Roses Are Lame, Roses Are Blue
by The PalletShipping Ninja
Summary: A/D. Ash and Drew have never had the chance to see eye to eye, mostly due to the two living in the different social classes of pokemon trainer and pokemon coordinator. But when Drew proves he's a worthy opponent after winning a battle against Ash, the two find their lives are lacking a rivalry in which the latter respects the former. RespectShipping, M/M, slash.
1. Roses Are Lame, Roses Are Blue

I have serious respect for this shipping (no punintendo ;D). /SHOT

So RespectShipping caught my attention a few months ago when I was cruising YT and found a video that was really cool *A* I can't remember what it was called now (since I forgot to favourite it), but it really made me consider the possibility of this being a legit shipping. And then I realised it had very few moments.

I was kind of saddened by this, but then upon stalking the archive for all sort of slash ships, (Boulder, League, Pallet, Coma, you name it) a wonderful idea of a "behind-the-scenes" fic emerged. And now here I am.

_Word prompts: Run. Linger. Heartbeat._

1: Roses Are Lame, Roses Are Blue

_-Fallarbor Town, November 6__th__, 2003-_

As Ash's taillow slumped onto the ground in defeat, Brock raised his arm in Drew's direction.

"Taillow's unable to battle! Roselia wins! The victory goes to Drew!"

Ash visibly growled, teeth bared, cheeks flushing with humiliation. It was bad enough that he'd lost this battle, but to lose to a petty coordinator who devoted his life to making his pokemon's moves look _pretty_ was the tip of the iceberg. Not to mention Ash had been training since he was ten, and two years from now he was still getting his sorry butt kicked by amateurs.

"Argh… Taillow, come on back," Ash scowled in a venomous tone, holding out his pokeball. His taillow croaked weakly in reply before being returned to its ball. From the corner of his eye he spotted May staring, eyes wide in disbelief.

"Woah," she said in a quiet voice. "I can't believe Ash lost…"

This for Ash to hear really stung; since the beginning of his journey in Hoenn, Ash had almost been like an inspirational figure to May, as she'd relied on him to guide her way to victory and ambition from the get-go. Her shock made the situation worse, especially as Ash was mainly battling Drew to reassure _her_ that her rival was nothing more than a big talker.

Drew's smug face grew, if possible, even more smug, and he tucked a loose strand of hair behind his ear. "Believe it. I'll explain why."

Oh, really? Ash was all ears.

"In any pokemon contest," Drew began, "you have to be on the same wavelength with your pokemon if you wanna win. But that can be trickiest part about it."

Ash's frown deepened.

"Because when a trainer gets confused," he continued, "so does his pokemon. But that's the true essence of teamwork."

May's expression changed from disbelief to dismay.

Now, Ash was usually a good sport. Even if he felt hurt by a loss, he'd normally suck up his pride and congratulate that person on their victory. But with Drew, he didn't _want_ to be the mature one. Something about the haughty look on the coordinator's face set Ash over the edge.

So he did the best thing he could in a situation like that: flipped the bird in the victor's direction and walked away, so swiftly even Pikachu hadn't seen it coming.

"Ash?!" May cried in shock. She'd never seen him acting like such a sore loser before, and as her role model, this was a little worrying. If he couldn't even handle a simple loss, how would she be able to cope if Drew was the one who kicked her out of her second contest?

"That wasn't very mature!" Ash heard Brock call sternly, but by this point he was beyond caring. Let Brock say or do as he liked.

The last thing he heard before the automatic doors to the contest hall opened was Drew's voice, as annoying and arrogant as ever, saying snidely, "At least if I were in his shoes I'd be able to handle such a poor loss."

* * *

Ash remembered there were times when he got riled up by the people he battled.

Gary, for instance. Gary was always smug upon winning battles against him, and looking back, he was right to be; he always had more experience and strategy, whilst Ash, back when he was a newbie trainer, often relied mainly on luck and wits.

Times had changed since then and he'd begun taking his battles a lot more seriously, training for hours on end every day, but that didn't stop him from still thinking at times that Gary had been the better trainer, even if Gary had repeatedly told him since the Johto League that he hadn't been cut out for competing against somebody as rowdy and determined as Ash.

Did this make Drew his new rival? Since he'd arrived in Hoenn, Drew was the only recurring trainer he had met up with, so it seemed like that was the only logical conclusion. But still…

"No." He shook his head fiercely, finally locking the door to the room he shared with Brock and flopping down on his bed. "Drew is May's rival and I'm not low enough to take that from her."

He understood that in the past he'd had Ritchie as a rival as well, but for some reason it just seemed like annoying May and proving to be better than her was all Drew truly cared about.

Besides, Drew was a coordinator at heart, and Ash refused to get so riled up with his overconfident attitude to consider quitting his quest to enter the Hoenn League and take up coordinating.

Since, initially, wouldn't that make him May's rival as well?

Rivalries that went three ways never seemed to work out well, as he'd seen in the television dramas he'd watched as a kid, like _Slateport Girls _and _Chansey and Me_.

He buried his head in his pillow, sinking into the feeling and letting the pent-up anger go.

Why was he letting his temper get the better of him, anyway? This wasn't the first loss he'd had, that was for sure. He'd convinced himself, upon stepping foot in Hoenn, that he'd grown out of throwing tantrums every time he lost.

But then again, that was before he'd met somebody as annoying and prissy as Drew. In this moment, Gary didn't even seem to come close.

_Get a hold of yourself._

"Stop being stupid," he told himself suddenly, forcing himself to sit up. "You should be cheering on May," he muttered, "not wallowing in a teeny little loss."

He made an effort to stand and unlocked the door, opening it a fraction. As he did, Pikachu tackled him to the ground with a loud, "Pika!"

"Haha, hi there Pikachu," he laughed softly. As his pikachu's relieved look morphed into that of disapproval, he lowered his head, shame-faced. "Yeah, I get it, I get it… I was a really sore loser earlier. I let you guys down. Especially Taillow…"

He sighed. "I don't know what came over me, Pikachu. It was stupid to get so irritated, I can admit to that… But…"

Ash shook his head and stood up. "…I suppose I should clean the slate with Drew, huh…"

Not yet, though. Still too soon.

* * *

Ash hadn't spotted Drew while the group had gone into town to get a bite to eat from the fast food place famous and recommended by Grace for its cheese-smothered French fries and chilli combo. Ash's suspicions were that Drew was eating in one of the fancier joints, alone, perhaps in one of the places so posh it required trainers to put their pokemon away before dining.

As the group chatted amongst themselves (Brock trying desperately to impress Grace with Max grabbing his ear whenever his passes were too forward), May turned to face Ash with a look of concern on her face.

"Uh… Ash?" she spoke up at last, gingerly. He paused, cheese-covered fry suspended on the end of his lower lip like a cigarette.

"Yeah?"

May fidgeted uncomfortably for a moment and Ash stared at her food carton to distract himself while she composed herself. Instead of going for the chilli like the rest of them (something to do with it being a really heavy food - must have been a chick thing), she'd opted for a dainty cheeseburger and salad. This was infuriating Ash earlier when she'd been stealing fries off of him, but he realised at this moment she simply wanted a healthy complexion for the contest tomorrow and decided he wouldn't say anything the next time she stole a fry out of his carton.

"Uh… well…" She fiddled with a piece of lettuce for a moment before glancing up at him. "What happened back there?"

"Back there?" he echoed. She glanced around nervously.

"You know, when you and Drew were…" She trailed off, but the point was made.

Ash sighed. "I… I don't know. He was pissing me off, so I made my point and walked away, I guess. And I suppose that's all there is to it…"

May bit her lip. "…It kind of startled me," she admitted. "I mean, you've always been such a role model to me, and… I'd never seen you act so immature before. I'm sorry, Ash, I don't want to sound mean, but… but you were acting like Max when things don't go his way - minus the hand gesture and all."

She sighed and closed her eyes. "It just got me thinking. If I can't count on you to handle losing like a man, how can I expect to cope with a loss myself? You're so much better at battling than me, Ash, and I'm sure if you tried you'd give me a run for my money as a coordinator, too. But if you can't win a battle against Drew and fly off the handle… how am I going to do tomorrow when I have to face him in the area of training that he's best at…?"

She lowered her head. "I don't have any confidence at all, Ash."

Instantly he felt a pang of guilt in his chest; after all, it was his fault for losing and acting like such a diva that May was feeling so down in the dumps right now. He reached across the table and squeezed her arm.

"You're going to be fine," he promised. "I shouldn't have thrown a fit like that… and I'm sorry if it scared you. I was out of order, and I can admit to that. I'll apologise to Drew later, if it'll make you feel better."

She looked up at him as he spoke again. "But remember, May - whatever happens out there, you're not me. You have a good chance at beating Drew because you're a confident coordinator with a boatload of talent. You need to be sure of yourself, because you'll blow them all away. Okay?"

She nodded slowly, managing a tiny smile.

"Thanks, Ash," she said softly, reaching across the table to steal a fry off of his plate. "I sure hope you're right."

* * *

It was after dark when Ash heard the sound of a roselia's petal dance from outside. Forcing an eye open, he caught sight of the petals gently drifting past the window and landing in scattered clumps on the balcony. So Ash, being Ash, decided to investigate. He wasn't the only one awake, it seemed.

"A-Ash!" May hissed. She had just finished changing into her pyjamas and was pulling the bedclothes over her. "What are you doing? It's really late!"

"I could ask you the same question," he whispered back. "Contest nerves?"

She nodded guiltily.

"I think I'll be okay now, though… I'm getting some sleep. Where are you going?"

He shrugged. "Getting some fresh air. I'll be back in a few minutes."

May sighed and closed her eyes. "Well… okay then… goodnight, Ash."

"Night, May."

As she rolled over to face the wall, Ash quietly unlocked the balcony doors and stepped out into the cool night air. Instantly he could see a few storeys down Drew was commanding attacks from the balcony, his roselia balancing on the edge and complying with his demands.

Ash poked his head over the side to glance down at him.

"Keep it down, would ya? I'm trying to sleep!"

Drew looked up, saw who he was talking to and his face split into a confident smirk.

"Is that so? Then why did you tell May you were going out for some fresh air?"

Ash frowned. "What the…? You were spying on us?"

"Not exactly. You guys have loud voices, you know. I'm surprised you didn't wake up the other two in your room."

Now it was Ash's turn to smirk. "So, I'm supposing you're practising because of contest nerves too then? It's a shame I can't sympathise with you, since I've never been jittery before a battle… then again, I've also never been in a contest, either. Is it more pressure?"

Drew kept his composure. "Yeah, definitely. Battles are normally one on one, with only a few travelling companions as witnesses. Contests are broadcasted live on television, and since Hoenn has a reputation for being the first region to house contests, it attracts fans from other regions as well. But of course, I've competed so often my attitude to contests comes naturally. I'm not worried nor afraid, Ketchum. But last minute practising is the best way to prepare your pokemon for the competition. Pressuring them to meet deadlines is a very important thing, so you don't have to worry about them flunking out."

Come to think of it, Ash hadn't really thought about contests as such a big deal before. Not that he'd ever admit that to somebody like Drew. That'd be almost as wimpy as giving in.

"So, are you up for the challenge?" Drew smirked. Ash blinked.

"Huh?"

"An old coordinator friend of mine was supposed to compete tomorrow, but they came down with something and had to cancel. Which means one spot is open," Drew said. His eyes met Ash's. "Are you going to enter?"

Ash grimaced. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm a trainer, not a coordinator."

"Is it just that?" the green-haired coordinator countered. "Are you really that afraid of losing? Or is it that you think being a coordinator is a sissy profession?"

"I… I never said that." Ash frowned and broke eye contact.

"But you thought it. Right?" Drew's smile deepened. "I can tell, you know. You're thinking, 'It's okay for May to be a coordinator because she's a girl'. So you think contests are all about sparkles and beauty?"

"Not to be funny," Ash shot back, "but as far as I've seen, contests seem to be all about the sparkles."

Drew gave a short laugh.

"At least you're honest. Coordinating is a lot more than just pretty attacks, you know. It's strategy. Coordinators can see battles in a whole new light by learning through contests. Like, a trainer might only see a rock tomb as an offensive attack to trap your opponent. But what if it became a defence attack as well, and your pokemon used a rock tomb attack on themselves to shield their bodies from whatever attack the opponent was conjuring up?"

Ash stared.

"So you see," Drew continued, "that's why I beat you in that battle. Contests teach you to think outside the box, and though you might not know this, gym leaders and champions tend to encourage this. It might just be your advantage one day." He flicked a strand of hair back. "Feel free to thank me in advance."

"I'll do no such thing until I see it with my own eyes," Ash snapped, though he was already beginning to see in his previous battles where he could've easily worked out strategies based on watching other coordinators in action. "Anyway, uh… I was being a bit of an asshat earlier. I'm sorry… it was wrong of me to act like such a sore loser. You won fair and square…"

"No apology necessary," Drew smirked, that smug expression back. "It was quite refreshing to see you act out like that, actually. I was surprised that you had such an immature side to you. And here I was thinking you were a good sport who was nice to everybody…"

"I normally am," he retorted, face warm under Drew's gaze. "I… I don't know what happened. It was strange. Normally when I lose I'm okay with it, but today… I saw you standing there, taking my strategy in your stride without any trouble at all. And it annoyed me." He clenched his fists. "You're a coordinator, Drew! And I'm a trainer! I've been battling for two years, and you're a year younger than me and not even a proper trainer! Yet you still wiped the floor with me and had room to be cocky. I… uh… it just irritated me, that's all."

He hung his head in shame, but glanced back at Drew again as he heard him begin to laugh.

"That's the Ash Ketchum worth getting to know," he chuckled. "Instead of hiding behind that façade of being peppy and a good sport all of the time, isn't it more fun when your true emotions surface? Certainly for me, it feels like more of a victory when I get through to you in a way that your friends can't."

Ash's heart raced. In less than a day Drew had picked apart exactly what his closest friends had never once spotted, despite over two years of travelling.

His chest clenched.

"…So what now?" he found himself asking. "Is this it? The reason I won't partake in the contest tomorrow is because I don't want to rival May. It's her first chance to do something special and stand out… I can't take that away from her." He swallowed. "But as for you, I could gladly take you apart piece by piece right now."

Drew's face broke into a grin.

"Then consider us rivals," he said carelessly, flicking a strand of hair back. He held out his hand for Ash to stare at for a moment, before heading back into his room. For a moment Ash lingered in stunned silence, wondering if that was it, if the cocky brat was once again going to leave him to bite the dust.

But then the green-haired boy emerged again, grin gone. His face was now suppressed into an unreadable expression. Silently, he pulled a rose out of his pocket and twiddled it between his fingers for a moment.

Then, "Roselia… take this up to dear Mr Ketchum here." He caught Ash's eye and smiled slightly as his roselia darted up onto Ash's balcony and handed him the rose. "Consider this a parting gift, since my pokemon will be too wiped after the contest to battle you tomorrow. The next time our paths cross, we'll find time to battle. I promise."

And then, without another word, he recalled his roselia into its pokeball and headed inside, giving Ash a slight wave without making eye contact. Ash stood out on the balcony, bewildered, clutching the rose in his trembling hands as his heart refused to slow down.

"What was that?" he murmured. Heading back inside and locking the door, to his relief he saw May was fast asleep and sighed, picking up his bag and reaching inside it for his journal, a small parting gift his mother had handed him, forcing him to promise to write in it from time to time ('so that one day, his kids would have something to look at when their wonderful father marvelled in the tales of his many adventures').

(That said, if he was nearly as deadbeat as his own father, Ash was sure his kids would want no such thing.)

He reached for the last page of the journal and tore off the lower part of the stem so the rose fit inside the page of his journal, and he abruptly shut it, tight enough to crush and preserve the rose. And then he picked up a pen and scribbled down the day's events.

_6__th__ of November._

_Lost a battle with my first Hoenn rival, Drew. I acted like a sore loser, but our fight has been forgotten. I've also been instructed to think outside the box (or 'like a coordinator') during battles for a more satisfying victory. Apparently my more immature side appeals to some people (not that I'd ever admit I have such a side to that smug prick's face)._

He put his journal away and slid into his bed, careful not to disturb Pikachu, who was sound asleep at the foot of his bed. As he allowed his head to hit the pillow, he remembered the events of the day, green hair and rose petals the last thing on his mind as he drifted into an easy slumber.

* * *

He couldn't say he was unhappy about May's victory, but seeing Drew's disappointment still made his mouth sting slightly as he recalled the words the two had exchanged the night before.

"I'm going to get my beauty sleep before we head towards Lavaridge Town," May smiled, before heading off into their room.

"And I'm going to check out the gift shop and see if the beautiful girl from earlier is still working her shift," Brock added with a faint blush on his cheeks. Max sighed.

"Guess I'll have to be his chaperone then," he sighed, before trailing after Brock. Then he turned back. "Ash, Pikachu, do you guys wanna come? I think they're having a sale on pokeblock."

Pikachu uttered an excited noise and hopped onto Max's shoulder. Ash laughed and followed the two as Max began chattering happily to him about the contest and Brock rehearsed pickup lines.

As the group approached the elevator at the end of the corridor, the doors opened to reveal Drew, casually leaning against the inside of the elevator with earphones in, blasting out loud music. This genuinely surprised Ash, who had always imagined Drew to be the type of person who would prefer classical music to rock, but everybody had their own way for dealing with losing, and listening to music reflecting his mood was obviously one of Drew's.

"Hey," he said, waving as they entered the elevator. Drew gave a curt nod and abruptly turned away, turning his music up louder.

"He's just being a sour loser because he lost," Max said matter-of-factly, folding his arms and pouting. Brock laughed nervously.

"I think you mean sore loser, Max."

As the two continued to argue which was the correct saying, Ash absentmindedly rubbed behind Pikachu's cheek and watched Drew attentively. The green-haired coordinator seemed slightly angered by their presence, which he could understand; after the loss he'd faced yesterday, he realised that sometimes being alone helped.

But sometimes wasn't the same as always.

As the elevator opened Brock and Max headed over to the gift shop. Ash set Pikachu onto the ground and allowed him to patter off into the store.

"I'm going to keep Drew company," he called to Brock, who could barely hear him over the noise of his beating heart as he came face to face with yet another pretty girl behind the counter. Max turned to stare at him with a confused look on his face.

"But Ash, why are you being so nice to Drew? He's May's rival," he pointed out, brow furrowed. Pikachu watched silently, almost with a mutual understanding.

"Drew's still a good person, even if him and May are like oil and water," Ash said simply, shrugging. "I'll meet you guys back in the room. In the meantime, keep our resident horndog under control, okay?"

Max shrugged, not quite knowing what that word meant but understanding anyway that it was aimed towards Brock.

"Suit yourself, I guess," he said quietly, before disappearing behind the shelves. As Ash turned around, Drew was already melting into the crowd.

"Drew! Hey, Drew, wait up!"

He raced up to him and reached out to put a hand on his shoulder when Drew turned around, slapping him away.

"Don't touch me," he snapped. "I want to be left alone right now."

Ash frowned.

"But Drew… there's nothing to be ashamed of. You put up a good fight and you know it."

"It wasn't good enough, because I lost," he spat. "And that's all there is to it."

"You gave it your best," Ash countered. "Though, as quoted from you, it's very refreshing seeing such an unguarded side to you, Drew. I think that's worth thinking about, don't you?"

"Leave me the fuck alone," Drew snapped, and Ash took an uncertain step back; he hadn't expected Drew to curse quite like that. "What do you know about contests, anyway? Even if my rate for entering contests is becoming clockwork, I always feel honoured to be there and not once have I taken my place there for granted! A careless loss is an embarrassment, a let down to all of the people who couldn't enter because of the slot I filled. My loss could've been their win and that is the frustrating part." He shoved his earphones back in. "So don't act like you know what it's like. Gym battles can be retaken at any given point in time. As for contests, they only happen every so often. I can't take my spots in those contests lightly. I know that now."

As he pressed the play button and began blasting out loud music, instead of trying to convince Drew to think otherwise, Ash simply took one of the earphones out of Drew's ear and put it into his own, scrunching up his face at the volume hurting his ears.

"I didn't realise you were into Black Sabbath," he said. "Didn't strike me as your style. I was expecting something classier, coming from you."

Drew raised an eyebrow. "And what, in your opinion, is classy enough for my ears?"

Ash shrugged, mind blank.

"…Cocteau Twins?" he offered. Drew rolled his eyes.

"You're such an idiot."

"Rolling Stones? Kansas? David Bowie?" Ash tried desperately as Drew began shaking his head slowly.

"You don't get it, do you?" he laughed shortly, pausing his music player. "You don't get anything about me."

"I know you're just shying away from me because you think I want to battle you," Ash replied. "And because you're embarrassed about your loss. And because you're embarrassed about how our conversation ended last night."

"What happened last night?" he asked, feigning innocence. "I don't recall us having any sort of conversation last night."

"But we… uh…?!" Ash frowned, wide-eyed and tight-lipped, before giving in and sighing. "I give up. I can't win when it comes to you, Drew."

Despite his best efforts, a small smile tugged at Drew's mouth and he closed his eyes, flicking a strand of hair back. "At least we can both agree on something."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ash demanded. "I was trying to cheer you up! This is the part where you say I'm wrong!"

"But you're right. You'll never win against me, and that's a fact." Drew allowed himself to smirk knowingly, tipping Ash over the edge.

"Maybe it's a good thing that May won."

Drew stopped smirking to stare at him, caught off guard.

"What?"

"Perhaps," Ash continued, "it's a good thing that May beat you at something. Maybe if she carries on winning it'll knock you down a few pegs."

Drew frowned.

"That's not funny. I'll lose my pride as a man if somebody as wimpy as her becomes a recurring rival."

"She's already chosen you as her rival, so I don't think you have a choice," Ash pointed out. "And besides, you already lost your pride as a man when you chose twirling in contests over striving to battle."

"Again with the sissy jokes, Ketchum?" he chuckled, closing his eyes and shoving his hands, rather ungracefully for Drew's standards, in his pockets. "You know, that joke's going to get old eventually."

"I'm just savouring it while I can," Ash shot back, eager to be on terms as close to friendly rivalry as the two could get, having not known each other for very long. "The next time you dress up for one, maybe you should get your flygon in a tutu?"

"Yeah, if you want Flygon to look stupid. That's the same as having your pikachu put on some of May's make-up."

"It's not stupid," Ash said quickly, deciding not to mention that May often tested out new make-up on Pikachu's arms to see how it looked before applying it on herself.

Drew grinned. "Really? Then how about this? Look here - the next time we battle, your pokemon have to show up in drag."

Ash spluttered loudly. "Um, no way!" He shook his head. "No. Fine, fine, I'll stop including your pokemon in the sissy jokes. But I'm still not giving you any mercy, mister."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

At that moment, a loud intercom message sounded over the din of the crowded lobby.

"Drew Blakeslee, you are receiving an incoming call from LaRousse City. Please head over to a videophone and insert your pokdex identification code in order to be put through."

Drew flinched.

"LaRousse City?"

"My hometown," he shrugged. "Must be my folks." He turned to face Ash and offered a small shrug. "I'd better be going. Until then…"

"Right!"

Drew stopped in his tracks and craned his neck to face Ash. "Do you still have the rose?"

Ash's heartbeat quickened slightly. "Oh, the rose? Yeah, I still have it."

Drew's expression softened for a moment, before flickering back to composed indifference.

"Good to know. I'll see you around."

"Yeah…" Ash watched, a little deflated, as Drew faded into the crowd and headed over to the reception. Sighing, he rubbed the back of his head and decided to return to the shop, where Max was hanging around outside with Pikachu.

"Max! What's going on?" Ash asked as Pikachu hopped onto his shoulder with an excited cry. Max shrugged.

"The girl at the cash register actually likes him back so I gave them some peace. They're probably going to eat out for dinner or something." He handed him a bag of colourful pokeblock. "The lady in the store said this would make the velvet lining the inside of his ears softer," he explained. Ash grinned.

"Wow, thanks a lot, Max!"

As they began walking towards the elevator, Max tugged on Ash's shirt.

"Hey, Ash?"

"Yeah Max?"

"Uh…" He fidgeted a little. "What did you and Drew talk about?"

Ash smiled a little and stroked pikachu's paw, which was nestled against the crook of his neck, with his index finger. "I just told him what he needed to hear." Upon seeing the younger boy's disapproving 'there's something you're not telling me' expression, he added, "I also let him know May's future victories are going to give him a run for his money."

Max, now satisfied with this answer, dropped the subject and chose to chatter to him happily about the different grooming brushes and pokemon food they had in the store, and Ash allowed his mind to lazily drift back to the scent of rose petals still lingering on his fingertips.

He wondered if the smell of roses ever truly went away.


	2. Thorns

Eeeee, wow! Since RespectShipping doesn't seem like a very popular ship (probably due to the ContestShippers, AdvanceShippers and lack of canon hints?), I didn't expect many people to read it. Thank you to everybody who read, favourited and/or followed my fic. I'm really grateful! ; u ;

(Also, especially thank you to Name Under Construction, FMAForge, Diamonti and ben4kevin -is that a Ben10 ship? /shot- for reviewing!)

By the way, for those of you who may have thought Ash was a tad bit aggressive in the beginning of both chapters, JUST WATCH THE EPISODES THEY'RE BASED ON. HE IS SO SASSY IN DREW'S PRESENCE I JUST.

Anyway, this chapter probably won't be as grand as the first one, since the episodes I'm basing it on (_Disaster of Disguise _and_ Disguise Da Limit_) didn't have much Drew in it at all, and virtually no time skip, which made it difficult to incorporate my own scenes. That said, I suppose the challenge is the main point?

(For anybody wondering, the first chapter was based on the episodes _Pros and Con Artists _and _Come What May_.)

(Oh my goodness, is it bad that the only reason I knew that 'come what may' is a line from Macbeth because I read it in the trivia section of the bulbapedia article on that episode? When my English teacher quoted it today I thought of that episode before anything else. It made me both revel in fangirlness and question my own general knowledge… Okay I'll shut up now.)

_Word prompts: Honesty. Traits. Confessions._

2: Thorns

_-Verdanturf Town, January 29__th__, 2004-_

"Rats… now what?"

Drew's roselia struggled to stay conscious as its trainer stood at the edge of the battlefield, mind racing and refusing to slow down.

"With the reputation you have as a pokemon coordinator, Drew, I'd have thought you would put up a better fight," Drew's opponent called, voice brimming with confidence. "Now it's time to finish you off!"

"Shit," Drew muttered under his breath, quiet enough for his opponent to miss. Roselia was not in a good place right now, and this dusclops was far from backing down. As it launched a shadow punch attack, Drew urged for his roselia to dodge the incoming blows… but it was too late.

Followed on top quickly with a will-o-wisp attack, it wasn't long before his roselia was too weak to sit up.

"Are you alright, Roselia?!"

Drew wasn't one to give up before the battle was officially over, but he could also admit when he'd been defeated. This was essential when dealing with the event of the morning before the Verdanturf Town pokemon contest, when he'd been challenged by a mysterious coordinator known as Phantom, who wore a getup similar to a Tuxedo Mask costume and battled using a dusclops.

In the beginning, Drew had the upper hand. The battle had started out fine, with Roselia confusing the opponent using its petal dance attack and camouflaging in between the flurry of movements. However, as time went on Phantom studied his tactics carefully and countered them, using the ghost-type moves and properties to his advantage and shadow-punching Drew's roselia into submission.

Eventually, he was forced to pick up what was left of his severely battered and bruised roselia as Phantom disappeared in a whirlwind of black petals.

"It'll be okay, Roselia," he murmured to it, hugging his pokemon close to his chest. Usually he wouldn't show such an unguarded face in public, but nobody was around, and Roselia needed him.

"You did great," he continued. "Lets go and heal you up now…"

He headed towards the pokemon centre, fingernails digging into Roselia's skin nervously.

As he approached the front desk, Nurse Joy glanced up and gasped.

"What happened?" she cried. He handed over Roselia, hands unusually clammy.

"A dusclops wiped it out pretty bad," he explained, shivering slightly. "Do you think it'll be alright?"

"I'll see what I can do," she assured him. "Name, please?"

"Drew Blakeslee. From LaRousse City."

"Got it… Let me just take down your name…" She grabbed a notebook from the pocket on the front of her apron and scribbled down his name. "Okay, I'm sure it'll be fine in a few hours. Why don't you swing by then?"

"Sure… I hope you can help it, Nurse Joy," he sighed, stroking his roselia's head. At that moment, a voice called out to him. An annoyingly chirpy voice he knew all to well.

"Drew! I knew you'd be here," May grinned. He shoved his hands in his pockets quickly and turned his head to half-face her and her annoying friends.

"Oh. Hello, May," he replied flatly, making no effort to mask his displeasure upon seeing his main rival. The group of trainers in front of them didn't seem to take the hint, smiling stupidly as though their conversation hadn't already died.

"I take it you'll be entering the big contest tomorrow?" Brock chimed in, to keep the conversation going. Drew couldn't hide the disappointment showing in his face as he answered, so he abruptly turned away from them.

"I _was_, but I'm not anymore," he muttered sulkily. It was at this point the gang finally seemed to notice the poor condition Roselia was in.

"What's wrong with Roselia?" May cried, peering closer.

"It got hurt battling," Drew said, choosing to leave his answer as vague as possible. Then his _other _rival spoke up.

Ash took this chance to say something he'd been itching to ever since his loss against Drew back in Fallarbor Town in November.

"You mean you _lost_?"

This seriously irked Drew, for some reason.

Not only was Ash Ketchum such a sore loser from their first battle he'd taken the first opportunity he could to gloat that Drew lost, he was being totally unsympathetic to Roselia's condition and didn't even seem to care that Drew wouldn't be taking part in the contest.

Now, he understood from their last conversation that Ash wasn't big on the idea of guys in contests, but he thought that after the mutual truce they'd made on the balcony that night he'd at least be a little understanding.

Then again, Ash was very self-centred and thick-skinned.

_Like a baby, _he thought to himself.

Biting back his anger towards a certain Ash Ketchum, Drew spoke again.

"I don't think that Roselia will be well enough to battle tomorrow. I'll have to skip the contest this time…"Admitting this part hurt, because he'd been looking forward to this one. He thought he'd been training well, with his pokemon in ship-shape, up to date and ready to win a new ribbon. Alas, bad luck had betrayed him once more. He'd have to apologise to his folks later, who had declined an invitation to a dinner party in order to watch him compete.

At the time of their last phone call he'd asked them why it was such a big deal for them to watch him in the contest, to which his parents had replied, "You rarely come home as it is. If we can't see you as our son, the least we can do is see you as the person you've made of yourself."

It had been a touching moment, but it was in the past now, and there was nothing he could do about it at this point.

So he spoke again.

"Here's a little advice for all of you: watch out for a masked coordinator who goes by the name 'Phantom'."

Without another word, he turned his back and left the pokemon centre, disappointment still weighing heavily on his mind.

* * *

When the group left the pokemon centre, they found a spot outside large enough for May's pokemon to roam free and settled down as May furrowed her brow in determination.

"Time to practice!" May declared, clenching her fists. "I can't believe there's a coordinator that much stronger than _Drew_!"

This really struck a nerve in Ash.

He could take Drew apart within seconds, and yet May refused to see his brilliance, as she had done when they'd first started travelling together. Ever since his loss during their first battle, Drew seemed to be all May could think about nowadays. What was so great about Drew Blakeslee, anyway? He was just some pretty boy coordinator that stepped all over her.

Ash was so much _better_ than him.

Deciding to voice these thoughts aloud, Ash folded his arms tightly over his chest and retorted, "Please, if _I_ knew where this Phantom guy was, I'd battle him _myself_."

Brock noticed this, cracking a grin.

"Getting a little competitive, Ash?" he asked. Ash turned to glare at him, visibly bristling.

"No!" he snapped. "I just don't see what makes that guy so special, is all."

May turned to stare at him, frowning a little. "Ash, what are you getting so upset about? I was just saying he's a good coordinator, is all." Her frown grew deeper. "And don't give me that look. You can't be jealous, cause you're not a coordinator! Gym battles and coordinator battles are totally different!"

He opened his mouth to snap back at her, before deciding against it. After all, if he kept shooting Drew down whenever he came up in conversation, the group would start to suspect more had happened between them than just the argument after their battle. And as much as he hated to admit it, he still didn't want the group to figure out that Ash and Drew had come to some sort of agreement to be rivals the last time they'd met.

He still looked at the rose sometimes, in those rare moments where he was alone, after dark when the others were asleep. He'd stare at it and wonder what it meant. He knew Drew liked to give roses to May when he teased her, so did that mean Drew was making fun of him too? He hoped not. Then again, May was a girl, so perhaps it was some sort of crush that had grown between the two coordinators? Even if that wasn't the case, Ash was still a _guy_, and guys generally didn't exchange flowers as mementos of trainer rites of passages, such as settling an old score or proclaiming a new rivalry.

Not that he'd ever tell Drew that.

After holding Ash's glare for a few seconds, May sighed and retreated, selecting a pokeball from her bag.

"Whatever, I'd better get on with some training," she muttered. Then, turning her back on Ash, she threw the pokeball into the air. "Go, Skitty! Come on out and take the stage!"

* * *

_-Verdanturf Town, January 30__th__, 2004-_

Well, the contest had come to an interesting turnout, that was for sure.

Drew wasn't entirely certain about what he was more surprised about; the fact that May had won or the fact that she'd somehow scraped a victory against the coordinator that had defeated him the day before. Even though his roselia was fine now, Drew was still frustrated that she'd managed to coin a win out of this kid, especially since whispers throughout the contest hall said this was allegedly his first contest.

And now it was late at night and he found himself wandering aimlessly around the high street in Verdanturf, looking for something to do. Since he'd been unable to contact his parents, he figured he'd give his old friend Solidad a call instead. Once he'd picked out a decent-looking café with a video-phone he placed an order for the soup of the day and set up the small 'reserved' plaque upright on the table, before wandering over to the green video-phone in the corner of the room and dialling up. After three rings, there was an answer.

"Oh, hi there, Drew." The face of his old rival spilled onto the screen and he smiled lightly, noting from the beige-coloured walls that she was in a Kanto pokemon centre.

"Hi, Solidad. Did you watch the Verdanturf Town pokemon contest today? It was on during the Contesta Central block on Hoenn Channel 4."

She nodded. "Yeah, I did. I spotted you in the crowd a couple of times. I take it you didn't compete?"

Drew frowned. "Roselia got hurt badly during a practice match. Did you see the coordinator Phantom?"

Her face perked up. "Yes, I did! He was strong, and his dusclops looked well raised. I was impressed."

"I was overconfident with the Phantom," Drew sighed. "And Roselia paid the price."

Solidad's face flashed with sympathy. "There there, Drew. There will be other contests. At least now you know, for future reference." She paused for a moment. "Do you remember the girl who won? What do you think of her?"

Drew shrugged. "Well, that's May. Remember her? The weak one with the beautifly that I told you about a few months ago?"

"Oh, that's right. So that was May? She was pretty cute, Drew. Is she a rival of yours?"

Drew groaned and rubbed his temples. "That's a terrifying thought. She's such an amateur."

Solidad laughed. "I don't know, Drew. She reminds me a lot of you when you first started out. I was surprised when I first saw her. Even if she seems to make a few mistakes here and there, she seems to have a lot of potential."

"Whatever you say," he shrugged. "How have things been in Kanto? Have you been entering any contests? I've been on the road a lot so I haven't really had the chance to tune in."

"Things have been… quiet. I won a couple here and there, but I keep battling new coordinators so they don't pose much of a challenge." She seemed eager to change the subject. "But enough of that, anyway. During the few times I saw you on screen there were moments when you were… not all too focused on the battle."

"Huh? There was?"

"Yeah! You were staring at a kid with a pikachu sat in the crowd." Her face split into a teasing grin. "Were your thoughts occupied or did you know him?"

Drew willed back the colour threatening to rush to his cheeks and coughed slightly. "He's one of May's annoying friends. We battled back in December."

"Oh? So he's a coordinator too?"

"Not quite. A trainer. One who challenges gyms and stuff." He reached up to touch his hair unconsciously, before realising what he was doing and withdrawing his hand. As the coordinator he looked up to most, Drew had always felt like Solidad didn't deserve any of the façades he put up to unnerve May and the other trainers he met. It didn't feel fair to pull that crap in front of Solidad, since she still seemed to think of him as a squirt no matter how much she'd grown.

Besides, the last time he'd played the hair-flick card she'd seen straight through it anyway.

Solidad grinned. "Sounds interesting. It's not like you to battle just anybody, Drew, especially when it's not even for show."

Drew shrugged, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "Well, he wouldn't stop going on about it. He was so convinced he was going to win, it almost looked like fun."

"Well, be careful, okay?" she laughed. "Don't want your head getting too big."

"Whatever you say," he sighed, trying to look haughty. "He's… a new project of mine."

"Oh? And what're you planning to do?" Solidad asked with a smile. It had been a small game of theirs to take a coordinator they met on their journeys and aid them to success, calling them 'projects', and Drew's usually involved harsh training and hours on end of grinding. Of course, he'd been popular since his debut as a coordinator, so usually the new coordinators would look up to him and be eager to follow his training methods, even if they were too worn out to speak after he was done.

Solidad usually took coordinators under her wing and urged them to talk with their pokemon, aiding them in decisions and striving to strengthen the bond between the team, rather than put them through workouts and hard labour.

This time seemed different, however, and Solidad was intrigued as to what Drew's plan was.

After all, he'd never selected a trainer who was so set on battling before.

"I'm winding him up," he explained with a confident smirk. "Riling him up seems to get him to work harder, so I figured that'd be the quickest way to start a rivalry with him. He doesn't seem to seriously dislike me for it, so I'm just going to get him to realise maybe he'd be better in contests after all."

"That's a tall order," Solidad said, raising her eyebrows. "How long has he been a trainer for?"

"Two years, I think?"

"Then yeah, I'd say that's a _really_ tall order," she deadpanned. "Are you sure about this?"

"About as sure as I'll ever be," he replied. "If it doesn't work out, it doesn't matter, right?"

He turned around as a waitress tapped him on the shoulder.

"Um, table six? Your soup is waiting on the table…"

"Oh, okay. Thanks." He turned back to Solidad. "I have to go. I'll see you soon…"

"Got it. See you around, Drew."

As her smiling face was swallowed up by the darkness of the screen, he got up and wandered over to his table. He stopped in his tracks as he saw a certain Ash Ketchum sitting opposite his soup.

Drew frowned as Ash noticed him and waved enthusiastically.

"Drew! Over here!"

Drew struggled not to let his anger show.

"What are _you_ doing here…?"

"The others are at Tim- I mean, Phantom's house. We were celebrating, but his mother is still a bit… iffy about Pikachu staying outside its pokeball." He scratched behind his pikachu's cheek, earning a happy cry in response. "She means well, it's just a little pet peeve of hers. So I told her me and Pikachu would eat somewhere else. The others said they'd come too but I told them it was fine, and that I'd just meet back up with them at the pokemon centre instead."

His face then broke out into a grin. "It's not all bad though, since I ran into you here."

"More like you ran into _me_," Drew said warily, eying his soup. Cream of tamato berry, his favourite.

The waitress from earlier approached their table and nodded towards Ash. "Do you want anything?"

He pointed at something on the panini list. "This one please. And can I have some water for my pikachu, please?"

"Of course. I'll be back in a moment." The waitress bowed her head before disappearing back behind the counter.

"I'm surprised you don't have your pokemon out though, Drew," Ash voiced nervously. "I figured since this is a café that allows pokemon out, you'd be all for it."

"What about you, then?" Drew shot back. "You say that, but it's only your pikachu that's out. I feed all of my pokemon back in my room at the centre. It prevents the risk of any of them causing trouble for the other customers."

"That's the same as me," Ash shrugged. "That's why I'm not buying anything for Pikachu except some water. He's my partner, but I can't treat any of my other pokemon unfairly, so…"

Drew watched him as he took his first spoonful of soup. Even if the tamato concentrate had been diluted greatly, it was still quite a spicy soup to choke down and although he was able to tolerate spicy foods, he could tell his nose was beginning to flood with red.

"Your nose is all red," Ash grinned. "It looks strangely fitting on a smug face like yours."

"Shut up, or I'll hit you."

The dark-haired boy sat opposite him simply looked amused.

"You're better with tamato-berry-flavoured stuff than I am," laughed Ash. "If I do so much as look at one my mouth puffs up. When I was a kid my mom seriously thought I had an allergy to them, but as it turns out, I just can't handle spicy food well."

_Fascinating._

The two lapsed into an awkward silence as Drew continued to eat and Ash fidgeted uncomfortably, the din of the café feeling oddly quiet.

Then Drew heard a loud growl and looked up to Ash's embarrassed face. He smirked.

"You're honestly that starving? I saw you practically swallow two hot dogs whole outside the contest hall earlier."

"High metabolism," Ash retorted, glaring at him through his embarrassment.

"Well, your order will be here soon. Unless you'd like some of my soup," Drew smirked. Ash pouted.

"Very funny."

As the two were beginning to bicker again, the waitress approached their table and handed Ash his food with a little bow, placing a water bowl down for Pikachu too.

"Finally! I'm starving!" Ash hastily took a bite as Drew watched with a bemused expression. Then suddenly, his eyes widened.

"Umfff… dis cheese…!" Ash took the panini away from his lips, several gloopy strings of cheese threaded between the two like a cobweb. Drew found his face reddening despite himself.

_Does this guy even realise how wrong this looks?_

He opened his mouth but found himself unable to speak as Ash began attempting to detach the stringy cheese threads from his mouth. Pikachu watched with an exasperated "Pikapi…", yet decided not to do anything about it, leaving his trainer to flail uselessly with his meal.

"Stop being a moron, you're making a scene," Drew frowned, glancing around quickly. People were beginning to stare with puzzled expressions as Ash continued to wrestle his panini.

In one swift motion, Drew snatched the panini out of his hands and took a bite of it himself, before forcing it into Ash's mouth.

"Mmff!"

When he'd finished swallowing, Ash removed the half-eaten panini from his mouth and glared at Drew, who was still chewing.

"What did you do that for?!"

"You were being a nuisance to the other customers," he replied once he'd finished swallowing. He eyed Ash coolly. "What's the problem? You wanted to eat it, didn't you?"

"Well, _yeah_, but…!"

Ash groaned loudly before taking another bite. "I just don't understand you, Drew. You're always acting so composed and haughty around May but when it comes to me, you do stuff like this! Do you really not respect me that much?"

A smile tugged at the corners of Drew's eyes.

"Quite the contrary. You, May and your other dorky friends… you're all interesting." He flicked a strand of hair out of his eyes with a short chuckle. "But May's my rival, right? I can't disappoint her by being easy."

He glanced at Ash with a smirk. "However, we're only rivals… behind the scenes, should I say? For that reason, what's the need for me to act the way I do in front of May? Everybody hypes themselves to be better than they really are to appeal to others around them - much like in pokemon contests. For all you know, half the people - and their pokemon - competing could have rotten personalities, but they're putting on a show, aren't they? It's that factor that entices the audience, similarly to how my façade entices May to accomplish things she wouldn't feel so eager to do otherwise. Am I wrong?"

Ash stared at him, mouth gaping like a magikarp.

"Did you really just compare socialising to an appeals round of a pokemon contest?"

"What of it? Are you going to say what I just pointed out has never applied to you?"

Ash went to retort, but then stopped. He glanced down at his plate, wide-eyed and deep in thought. At last, he dropped his gaze and said sulkily, "…No…"

"What are you thinking about? A past rivalry being a lie? Your friends all having hidden natures? Your pikachu plotting against you?"

At this, Pikachu looked up curiously, hearing its name, and gazed up quizzically at Drew.

"No… I was thinking about how similar you are to your roselia."

Drew blinked.

"Huh?"

"You both carry roses around. Your hair is the same colour as Roselia's leaves. You're both kind of prissy. Not to mention you always have a smug air around you." Ash drummed his fingers on the table, deep in thought. "So I guess the pokemon really do affect the antics of the trainer…"

Drew stared at him for a few seconds, before chuckling loudly.

"What brought that on?" he asked in between laughter. "I seriously don't understand your train of thought." Then, reaching into his bag, he added, "But is my likeness to Roselia really such a bad thing?"

Ash could only stare as Drew pulled out a rose and lifted Ash's hat, placing the rose on top of his head before cramming the cap back down again.

"What's it for this time?" Ash asked, dumbfounded, as Drew finished off his soup. He shrugged.

"What else? Your analysing skills have gotten better since the last time I saw you, as you're no longer claiming the point of contests to be 'all about the sparkles'." He looked up at Ash and smirked. "You just proved yourself worthy as my rival by pointing out the similarities between trainer and pokemon, Ketchum. So well done."

His grin deepened.

"You've finally grasped what contests are all about."

* * *

The panini scene is something I was inspired by after reading an awesome web comic called Grass Nest. Go check it out, you won't regret it!

Also, even though I understand Solidad wasn't officially introduced until Battle Frontier, (dub)canon states that they've been friends for a long time and that they often used to compare coordinators, battling styles, rivals etc… which is why I figured it would be a good time for somebody to get suspicious of Ash and Drew's _*controversial* _rivalry.

(IT MAY BE EARLY DAYS BUT THEY ARE BOYFRIENDS OKAY. /cries)

Sorry this isn't a similar length to the first chapter, but I seriously didn't know what to write. I was stuck, but in the time I was writing this chapter you guys reviewed and it made me happy to know there were people out there reading my fic and respecting this ship (again, no punintendo). So thank you, guys! Here's hoping chapter three won't take me as long to accomplish!


	3. The Third Flower in His Hands

Oh wow, a lot of positive feedback on chapter 2! Thanks! :O Thank you to ben4kevin, Name Under Construction, Allie cat, Diamonti and XxShuukaraxX for reviewing!

Sorry this has taken so long to write… D: I've been working on chapter 4 as I've been writing this, since chapter 4 is requiring more thinking time and therefore I needed to dedicate more of my creative juices towards it. It's almost finished now, I promise. Fast update next time.

This chapter is based off of the episodes _A Fan With a Plan _and _Cruisin' For a Losin'_. I'm still cruising (no reference innutendo) through AG so if facts regarding Drew's rose-giving priorities are incorrect, boo you whores. I'm the fanfiction author so I can do what I like, rawr.

Now, lets celebrate this ship in style! I sniff a moment of realisation ahead for those of you who are anticipating some slashiness! :D /excited

_Word Prompts: Dawning. Pride. Hands._

3: The Third Flower in His Hands

_-Rubello Town, May 20__th__, 2004-_

Drew had been infatuated three times.

The first time was when he'd met Solidad. As a fresh meat coordinator his first loss was bound to hurt, but when he saw how amazing and confident Solidad was it made him realise he could be like that. She was the one he aspired to be like and it was thanks to her that he got over his pre-contest nerves and became the cool and composed (albeit pretty snide) person he was today.

Drew had only given his roses to two people.

The second person he'd given his roses to was May, a strong-willed, yet very lame, pokemon coordinator he'd met on his journey. She was, as he once was, a new and inexperienced coordinator who continued to try despite the numerous times he'd shot her down. Even if she irritated him with her carefree attitude and cheerful aura, it brought a smile to his face when she got worked up. He wasn't being mean. May just reminded him a lot of himself; a nervous wreck before contests, yet with enough determination to keep picking herself up and carrying on. The smirk on his face, above all else, was nostalgic.

Drew had only let one person step into his world completely.

The person in question was none other than Ash Ketchum. Where to begin? He was a loud-mouthed trainer from Kanto who made sissy jokes about Drew's trainer class. The first time they'd properly gotten talking he'd told Drew to put his flygon in a tutu. He'd kept the roses given to him by the coordinator. The two had met behind the scenes of their ordinary lives at the intersection between reality and pretence. They'd had their fair share of laughter and bickering and understanding.

It made his heart both turn with fondness and curl in disgust.

Why was it that this Ash Ketchum had a habit of invading his space and making his journey bleed with colour and intrigue?

Drew couldn't figure it out.

Ever since the contest in Verdanturf Town he'd had his mind set on training - his pokemon were ready for just about anything and he'd even added a new team member to his party, a masquerain whose wings shone like a silver wind attack. From one town to another he'd travelled, entering each and every pokemon contest he'd passed.

Oh, he was ready.

As he approached the pokemon centre he passed a poster for the upcoming Rubello Town Pokemon Contest, and was relieved to see it was an R1 contest - it'd been a while since he'd entered a contest that wasn't filled with complete amateurs and he was intrigued as to who would be entering.

And then, as the doors opened, he heard a voice.

"…This contest is Class R1, so that means every entering contestant must've earned at least one ribbon so far. It's the Grand Festival rules, which we use in all our contests."

"I haven't… heard of the Grand Festival…"

Oh.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" he couldn't help but sneer as his rival tensed up and turned around to face him. He hadn't seen May in months, and yet she seemed just as weedy as the last time he'd seen her. Looking around, he noted her friends seemed just as clueless as she was.

"Drew…!"

"That's right."

She began to walk towards him, an edge of excitement in her voice. "Are you entering the contest too?"

He shrugged, hands in pockets. "Yeah… It's kinda small time, but I s'pose it's pretty good practice for anyone who wants to enter the Grand Festival."

Drew's expression grew smug. "Of course, I wouldn't expect a _certain coordinator_ who just stumbles from one contest to another to understand."

Her face twisted into a sour glare. "Excuse me Drew, I happen to have won the last two contests that I entered." Her eyes darkened in anger. "I'd hardly call that stumbling!"

He grinned, enjoying how easy it was to rile her up. "If you say so. I'm just telling you how it looks to me…"

As he began to listen to the pleasant sounds of May's teeth grinding in frustration, a loud squeal sounded behind him and he somehow found himself swamped by a group of women chattering excitedly between themselves. As he tried to glance through the gaps, Ash watched with mild amusement as he heard the younger boy protest weakly.

"Hey, uh, I'm-"

"Oh Drew, I have to be your biggest fan!"

The simultaneous giggling continued as Drew glanced around awkwardly. The women began presenting him with various merchandise of him that they owned (where on earth did they get an action figure of him, anyway?) and above the din he could hear Ash suppressing a snigger.

He held back his discomfort and managed, "That's… great…" as the gushing continued to erupt around him.

"Take a look!" he heard another say. "I have photographs of every single contest you've ever appeared in!"

He felt a cold shiver snake up his spine.

"Oh… I-I'm honoured… wow…"

"So can I get your autograph? Pretty please?" The woman talking held up her collection of photographs, desperation written all over her face.

"No, I don't… do that." Drew flicked his hair out of his eyes, as a chorus of other women cried out, "How cool! He actually turned her down!"

From the sidelines, the group stared.

"I had no idea he was such a star," May sighed, pouting.

"Yeah, the ladies love him," Ash agreed, a tweak of jealousy riding through him. It wasn't fair that coordinators got such high praise, whereas hardworking trainers like him barely got any recognition at all.

At that moment, a woman stood beside May cried out, "Hey you guys, over here! I've got Norman's daughter, May!"

At once the group of women left Drew to instead crowd around a confused May. With a smirk and a flick of the hair, Drew turned away, heading for the doors.

"Hey, Drew, wait…!" Ash called after him, only to find his voice drowned out by the loud chattering amongst the women as they fired questions at May. Much to his dismay, Drew didn't look back.

* * *

As the group sat at a large table in the pokemon centre's cafeteria, Ash couldn't help mulling over the way the women had all fawned over Drew, while later deliberately snubbing him.

It wasn't that he was jealous. He was fine with it if people didn't know who he was. What irritated him the most was the way they affected Drew. He looked uncomfortable, but he also seemed to gain his confidence the moment they'd moved onto May. Even managing a hair flip as he left.

_Did he even care that I was calling out to him? Does he think just because those women were all gushing around him, he's better than me? Am I not even worth his time of day anymore?_

_And all because he waves around a couple of silver wind attacks and boosts his own ego._

"Please, I'm the one out there working hard, fighting all the gym battles," Ash grumbled to himself, lost in thought. Max picked up on this and grinned at Ash.

"Getting jealous, Ash?"

Ash flinched and sat upright, glancing over to Max as his face began to flush.

"What would I be jealous about?" he countered quickly, before realising Max was talking about the praise being given to May rather than the previous encounter with Drew. "Oh, right… nope, not jealous of May. She deserves her talent to be recognised, I suppose."

Max shrugged. "Sure, sure, whatever you say. You're such a sour grape."

_Maybe I'm just being stupid. Maybe he just didn't hear me. Maybe that's why he didn't turn around when I called out to him._

When Ash didn't respond, Max watched him carefully.

"Hey… Ash? You in there?" He waved a hand over his face until Ash snapped out of his daze. "What's up with you today? Your face is all red." Max instantly became suspicious. "Did something happen?"

"N-No, nothing happened," Ash recovered quickly, shaking his head. "I was just remembering what happened earlier in the lobby."

_Yeah, that has to be it; no doubt about it. I need to stop getting worked up about this. Why do I even care? It's not like I even had anything important to say to him._

When Max recalled the events of earlier in the day, his face split into a huge grin.

"So you're heartbroken that the lady didn't recognise you as a 'handsome and promising young trainer'?" he teased. Ash hit him lightly on the back of the head.

"Yeah, it really wrecked my confidence. Hold me until I regain my manly pride again, won't you, Max?"

_Except that I still have the rose he put in my hat, and the rose I shut in my journal. I still have the receipt from that day in the café. I still have my memories, carefully preserved, from the time on the balcony, and the time in the café, and the time we battled._

_Maybe that was what I needed Drew to hear._May suddenly leaned over the table and rammed the palms of her hands into their foreheads.

"You two are really rude!" she bit out. "Don't you know it's impolite to have a conversation while other people are talking?!"

* * *

"I need to lie down…" Ash groaned, stretching as the group approached the pokemon centre. Having gone food shopping and meeting Savannah's daughter, Sandra, the gang had been invited back for a dinner filled with Brock's endless passes at Savannah and her daughter's continuous quick-fire questions aimed towards Ash about the life of a trainer and other battling tips and methods.

The food had been great too. So great, in fact, that Ash needed to flop down on his bed immediately, or he'd get indigestion from having eaten so much.

"I don't recommend that, it normally makes heartburn worse," Brock piped up helpfully. Ash belched in response, causing May to glare at him very pointedly.

"Don't do that, it's gross," she complained. Ash laughed as she continued to frown disapprovingly.

"Don't forget you need to feed your pokemon, May," Max pointed out, to break up the arguing. "They can't practice for the contest tomorrow on empty stomachs."

"Better not feed them too much though, or they'll end up like Ash," Brock advised with a chuckle.

"Pika…" Pikachu agreed, exasperated.

Ash belched again.

"Oh, honestly!" May threw up her hands and growled at him. "Didn't I tell you not to do that?!" She held her tongue, folding her arms and deliberately turning away from him. "I can't deal with you right now. I'm going to go feed my pokemon."

"That cuts me deep," Ash sniggered. "I'm going to take a walk, since apparently May 'can't deal with me right now'…"

"Pass me your balls, Ash," Brock said as he turned to leave. "I can feed your pokemon if you want."

Ash gratefully passed Brock his pokeballs and headed off in the opposite direction, hands in pockets, Pikachu following him, having eaten in the house with the others.

As the two headed around the back of the pokemon centre, they quickly stopped in their tracks as they spied a certain smug-faced coordinator calling on attacks.

"Roselia, use petal dance!"

As he released his pokeball, the air around them was whipped into a flurry of petals and strong gusts of winds, which swiftly slowed to a halt, leaving the petals fluttering gently around him. Moments later his roselia emerged, legs crossed in a curtsey of sorts.

"Impressive," Ash called out. "Definitely a new way of calling out your pokemon. The whole 'using petal dance as your starting move' thing is getting a little old though, don't you think?"

Drew straightened out and smirked. "Your comments are getting a little overly critical, don't you think?" He stepped towards Ash, ignoring the curious stare his roselia was giving Ash. "And for your information I happen to have recently caught a new pokemon, just to keep things fresh for you, Mr Ketchum. You interested in getting a sneak preview?"

Ash shook his head. "Nah, I'm good. It'd spoil the surprise."

Drew flicked his fringe out of his eyes, expression never faltering. "Where's May, anyway? Practising?"

"Feeding her pokemon," Ash offered. "We were invited round a friend's house and it got late…"

"Sounds like something she'd do," Drew smirked. "How unprofessional."

"I figured you'd be like that. What's so wrong with treating your pokemon, huh?"

Drew shrugged. "Wouldn't it make more sense to feed them after they'd practised, to praise them for their efforts? If they don't get a reward, they don't feel as though they've accomplished anything."

"Isn't doing well in the contest the feeling of accomplishment?"

With a short laugh, Drew smirked and replied back, "The words of a true child, huh…?"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

As the two continued to bicker, Pikachu watched with piqued interest. Although it'd been obvious for a while now that the two had began some sort of hesitant rivalry, Pikachu hadn't realised how easily involved Ash became when talking to Drew.

It was… interesting, to say the least, how easily the two boys had adapted to pushing each other's buttons.

"So, the last time we met up your roselia was too badly hurt to battle," Ash said, absentmindedly patting the pokemon's head. "It doesn't seem remotely weak right now, though." He looked up. "What do you think?"

Drew, knowing what he was getting at, shrugged and flicked his fringe out of his eyes. "It doesn't matter to me. Do whatever you want… just don't get upset when you lose."

Ash rose to his feet. "In which case, Drew Blakeslee from LaRousse City! I challenge you to an official pokemon battle!"

"Contest rules or battle rules?" Drew asked lightly, hands in pockets.

"Do you even have to ask?" Ash countered, grin spreading over his face. "Battle rules, of course! One on one pokemon battle! Full frontal! No mercy!"

"I guess it'll be interesting to have a battle-style warm up to our training, right, Roselia?" Drew asked his pokemon with a grin. Roselia raised its rose-bound fists in determination.

"Roselia!" it cried, looking pumped.

Ash's grin widened.

"Great! Come on, Pikachu, lets do this!"

As the two backed away from one another to create a sort of pitch in the back yard of the pokemon centre, Ash squinted and cupped a hand over his mouth.

"A one-on-one battle between Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town and Drew Blakeslee of LaRousse City! The pokemon left standing wins the match, therefore becoming the victor," Ash called, imitating Brock's voice.

"That sounds nothing like your friend."

"Silence!" he called, clenching his fists. He raised one into the sky, before swiftly lowering it. "Begin!"

He then reverted back to his regular self, calling out an attack. "Pikachu, iron tail!"

As Pikachu leapt into the air, its tail began to glow. Drew's eyes narrowed.

"Roselia, petal dance," he instructed. With a swift motion, a storm of pink flower petals flurried around the yard. Ash accidentally inhaled a petal and began to gag.

_What is he doing? _He thought to himself as he continued to cough. _Why did he use petal dance to attack?_

As he looked up, trying to catch his breath, he realised that he could barely see a thing. Pikachu's gaze was also darting around wildly, his tail no longer glowing, the attack lost in the confusion.

"Pika?!"

"Now, Roselia, stun spore!"

Plumes of the attack gathered around Pikachu and Ash watched in dismay as his pokemon became completely submerged in spores.

"Not very wise, allowing yourself to become so easily distracted," Drew sighed. "Some might even call it careless."

"I was choking on a flower petal!" he defended hurriedly, face burning with humiliation. "Come on, Pikachu, you can break free of the stun spore attack! Will your body to move!"

Pikachu struggled to stay standing, wobbling pathetically as it attempted to move. Drew smirked.

"Now your pokemon is temporarily paralysed, I can make my move," he said. "Go on, Roselia, magical leaf!"

Roselia lifted one arm and its rose began to glow a blinding white, emitting crescent-shaped flower petals shooting towards Pikachu with the agility of a razor leaf attack.

"Come on, Pikachu, you can do it!" Ash called, desperation flooding his body. "Get up! You can move, I know you can!"

Pikachu gritted its teeth, inching forward slightly before becoming engulfed in slash marks left by the magical leaf attack. It grunted and wobbled weakly.

"Come _on_, Mr Ketchum, give me a better performance than that," Drew called. "Doesn't it seem a little unfair to give up as easily as this?"

"We're not giving up!" Ash growled, visibly red in the face. "Pikachu, you can do this, right?"

"P-Pika…!" Pikachu managed a nod, wading across the field as it tried to shake off the stun spore.

"Roselia, how about another petal dance?" Drew asked casually, flicking his hair back with a grin.

With a short cry, a heavy storm of petals began to rain down on the field. Ash squinted to see through the flower petals showering on them and managed to work out Pikachu shaking its head firmly, finally rid of the stun spore. His face split into a smile.

"Now, Pikachu, use quick attack!"

"Huh?" Drew strained to see the battle unfolding before him, also temporarily blinded by the burst of petals. "Roselia, dodge it!"

"Don't give him that chance, Pikachu!" Ash called. "Jump into the air, above the petals!"

As Pikachu's form emerged from the flurry, it got a clear view of where Roselia was still planted on the ground, looking around in confusion.

"Roselia, look up!"

"Too late for that, Drew!" Ash grinned. "Pikachu, use iron tail!"

Pikachu began plummeting to the ground, tail growing. The petals cleared just in time for Drew to see Pikachu's tail land a blow on the roselia's face. Roselia cried out and fell back.

"That isn't enough to finish it off!" Drew announced, face set into a grim line. "Roselia, use magical leaf again!"

"Dodge it and use thunder!"

"Don't you know electric attacks aren't very effective against grass types?" Drew called.

"Don't you know grass attacks aren't very effective against electric types?" Ash shot back, fired up.

Several minutes later, both pokemon were covered in scratches, panting heavily as they broke out into sweat.

"I… I think we should call it even," gasped Ash, leaning over, short of breath.

"I think that's a good idea," Drew agreed. "I should probably hand over Roselia to Nurse Joy, anyway. It probably needs some healing and rest before the contest tomorrow." He held out a pokeball. "Roselia, you fought a good battle. Return!"

"I normally don't like ending with a tie, but I suppose it can't be helped." Ash knelt down to pick up Pikachu. "Are you alright, buddy?"

"Pika…"

"You've improved since the last time we fought, Ash," Drew said, for once his voice not holding a hint of smugness. "I'm impressed."

"You too," Ash nodded. He reached out to shake hands. "It was an awesome battle, that's for sure. Lets do this again, the next time we meet."

Drew nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

As the two grasped hands, Drew's heartbeat began to quicken. He hadn't expected Ash's hands to be softer than his.

_That's a little wimpy, since he's always accusing me of being a sissy._

"This was a good one…" He quickly pulled away as Ash's eyes widened in confusion. "I guess I should hand Roselia in, if it needs to recover in time for the appeals round tomorrow."

As he headed towards the pokemon centre, he called, "I'll be practising with my new pokemon when I get back!"

Was that an invitation? Ash wasn't sure.

He belched again, and rubbed the back of his head."Screw what Brock says," he muttered. "After that battle, I seriously need to lie down."

* * *

_-Rubello Town, May 21__st__, 2004-_

Once again, darkness spilled onto the pokemon centre as the group finally made it up to their room. May had taken the time to reflect on her performance that day and as the gang had changed and were ready to sleep, she sat up in her bed and stared at her hands.

"Thank you for not resenting me for the way I acted, everybody," she sighed, clasping and unclasping her hands. "I feel like such a fool, losing sight of the important things…"

"Hey, don't worry about that now, so long as you remember what you learned for next time," Max said quickly, not wanting to see his sister upset.

Having been scolded by the judges for caring more about victory than the condition of her bulbasaur, it had been a massive wake up call; not to mention a huge blow to her pride.

"Just remember what I said earlier, May," Ash added, propping himself up on one elbow. "Every trainer gets carried away sometimes, and it's okay. Just focus on your pokemon the next time a contest comes up. You know, make sure they're all on board, and all that…"

"And if you ever need our advice, you can ask," Brock inputted with a smile. She nodded, hugging her knees.

"I guess you're right…" Then she bolted upright. "Oh, gosh! I just realised, when I called my mom earlier I left myself logged into the videophone! What if somebody hacks into my account and prank calls everybody I know?!" Her eyes widened in terror.

"Don't freak out," laughed Ash. "I'll go and log you out, if you want. I'm still wearing my slippers anyway, so I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" she asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, it's fine. I'll be back in a minute. Don't wait up!"

The actual entering the lobby and logging May out of her account part was the easy bit. The more difficult bit was bringing himself away from where he was rooted to the spot, watching from the window as Drew continued to command attacks towards his pokemon.

Eventually, he wandered over to the back door and pulled it open.

"You'll wake everybody up if you keep training so late at night," he found himself saying, prising Drew from his thoughts. The coordinator turned to face him, caught off guard momentarily. When he realised who was standing there, he flicked a strand of hair from his eyes and smiled.

"I'll never get any training done if you keep interrupting me every time I get a good combination going," he replied with a grin. Ash sat down on the dry grass and began to pluck singular blades from the dirt to examine them, twiddling them between finger and thumb.

"Good job on the victory by the way, Drew," Ash chirped, gazing up at him. "I was wrong about the petal dance. It worked really well in the appeals round. And you used your pokeball technique from last night, too!"

"I never said I wasn't going to use it, right?" Drew shrugged, before calling his masquerain out on a flimsy silver wind attack.

"I don't get you, Drew," Ash said, staring at a particularly interesting blade of grass. "You only just won your fourth ribbon. Shouldn't this be your day off, now you don't have to compete until your next contest?"

Drew shrugged. "A true trainer never rests completely. I'm not giving them challenging combinations to try out, just a little exercise. I always find it easier to come up with new combinations when I'm watching their attacks in a sequence, so I can mix, match and see what works well."

"I guess I always wondered how you'd think up new ideas each time," Ash said with a little laugh. "The way you and May train are completely different. She relies on luck, seeming to grab fitting combinations out of thin air. She tends to wing it a lot, which works well for her because being spontaneous just seems to come naturally. It's interesting to see the way you do it. Everything seems so… planned."

"Of course," Drew nodded in agreement. "May does get lucky a lot of the time. It's obvious from her approach to contests that she doesn't take her trainer class very seriously at all. I can tell she doesn't spend much time on her combinations just from the way she performs."

"She's still learning, though," Ash said defensively. "And I'll admit what you've been telling me up until this point is true - contests are a little more challenging than gym battles, since you have to work on making it look pretty too. But that doesn't mean I don't know how much hard work goes into it, but she's doing her best."

"In that sense, you and I are alike." Drew turned to him and smiled, a rare smile that held no trace of sarcasm or amusement. "We both recognise who we are as trainers and take what we do seriously, doing whatever we can to gain success. As for May…" He gestured, not quite knowing how to describe her. "…Well, let's just say that despite everything, I'm still not convinced she understands how important her role as a coordinator is. After her performance today, I can see now that she's still just a child. She's not at the same level of understanding that the two of us are. That's all."

"You can't say that!" Ash argued. "Sure, she got a little carried away today… everybody does at some point, right? She knows that the way she acted today was completely out of line. She's reflected on her actions and she knows what she did wrong. May's set out to change that, and never make the same mistake again… and all you can say is that she's a child?! You're a year older than her, Drew! You can't expect her to hold the same kind of attitude we do because she's barely had enough time to learn from her experiences the way we have!" He gritted his teeth. "You're just not being fair!"

"I see I struck a nerve again, then." Drew grinned. "I'm not saying she won't get better. And what about you? Now you realise the challenge of contests, are you thinking of becoming a coordinator?"

Ash made a face. "Please, as if. Just because I appreciate it doesn't mean that I'm ready to drop the gym battles and take to twirling around in between flower petals and sparkles."

"Maybe you need a little further persuasion, then. I suppose that can't be helped." Drew shrugged, closing his eyes. "I suppose it was worth a shot asking, though. In my eyes, after seeing the way we battled today, I think it's safe to say you'd make a decent coordinator if you were passionate about it."

He turned away and pointed towards the sky. "Roselia, use magical leaf! And Masquerain, fly upwards!"

Ash watched, intrigued, as the pokemon jumped into action, Drew's roselia generating dozens upon dozens of razor-sharp silver leaves that soared towards the sky… where Masquerain was innocently floating, directly in harm's way.

"Drew, your masquerain!" Ash called out urgently. Drew raised a hand to silence him, before pointing towards his pokemon and calling, "Masquerain, now! Use bubble!"

As bubbles began erupting around each magical leaf, Ash stared. The leaves had been suspended, encased within the bubbles, and were slowly floating to the ground, the shimmering of the leaves casting a glow from within the centre of each bubble.

"Woah," he breathed. "Drew, they look like fireflies."

"They do, don't they?" he smirked. "I came up with that one recently. I was considering using it in the grand festival, once I get there. What do you think?"

"It's awesome," Ash voiced, mesmerised. As Drew glanced down at him, nodding approvingly, he suddenly stopped.

It had been difficult to see Ash as himself before, constantly hiding behind false pretences and that annoying red cap of his. But in this moment, he could see his new rival clearly; having been about to sleep, Ash's hat was gone, still sitting on his bed where he had left it. He could see the dark head of hair, and the brown eyes that were often slightly hidden beneath the rim of the hat. In the light of the fireflies, Ash Ketchum shone.

Drew's heart began to race.

"The thing with contests," he found himself saying quietly, blood rushing in his ears, "is that everything must look beautiful. Perfect."

"I hear you," Ash encouraged, not sensing anything was wrong."But you see," Drew continued numbly, "I rarely find my duo combinations perfect, since the types I use are often quite different. However, the magical leaf and bubble combination… in this light, it looks flawless." He swallowed, mouth dry. "I hardly ever find room to say that about my creations."

"What are you talking about?" Ash cried, holding a glowing bubble in the palm of his hand happily. "This is flawless! You don't give yourself enough credit, Drew. That's… that's really _unlike_ you." He frowned suddenly, glancing up at his rival.

"Drew, this isn't like you at all…"

"Whatever," Drew bit out, lowering his head. He turned to his roselia. "Roselia! Petal dance, and lots of it! Give me power behind your attack!"

"Wait, Drew-"

As petals fell down like heavy snowflakes, Ash found himself lost, unable to see Drew through the attack. When he was sure he was hidden, Drew slipped a hand down his sleeve and pulled something out, stretching out a hand and guiding himself blindly through the storm of petals until he found what he was looking for.

Ash's breath hitched as he felt a hand press up against his chest. For a brief second he wondered if the hand could feel his heart drumming wildly in his chest. A moment later something was pushed into his hand and he heard a roselia and a masquerain being recalled, before the petal downpour subsided and he was left standing alone in an empty backyard.

He looked down at his hands. They cradled a rose and a note. Upon inspection, each thorn had been carefully cut off, with what looked suspiciously like a magical leaf attack.

Ash quickly unfolded and inspected the note, heart racing.

_The rose is for the battle. The smooth stem is for your sissy hands. (What's up with that, are they made of velvet or something?) The note is for the explanation you probably needed._

_Lets have a contest-style battle next time._

_-Drew_

Ash's hands began to shake as he clutched the rose and the note tightly in his hands, mind refusing to slow down. He let out a trembling breath as he shook rose petals out of his hair, face feeling warm in the cool night air.

_What happened just now?_

Nobody questioned why he stood in the yard for what felt like hours that night. Nobody noticed as he slipped back into bed while the others slept, the scent of rose petals and Drew's handwriting clinging to his skin.

As far as the two boys were concerned, nobody had to know.

* * *

This chapter was very painful to write. Mainly because for reference I kept having to watch these two episodes, and I hate watching the scene where May loses her contest. There was a time in my life (I was about seven/eight) when May was my idol, and she'd always seemed perfect and cool and wonderful to me. I don't remember watching this episode growing up, so it was painful to see her lose when I eventually watched this online.

Even though I'm happy that Drew won this contest, I still hate having to see May be humiliated in the contest hall, even if she brings it on herself.

Anyway, enough of that.

Despite the hardships of writing this chapter up (and in addition to the pain of having to repeatedly watch May lose, I also had to write a fricking pokemon battle and I mean HOW DOES ONE DO THAT IT'S REALLY DIFFICULT ; A ;), the shippyness was totally worth it.

Here it is. The turning point! (I hope!) The seed of interest has been planted in Drew's heart while a seed of doubt is beginning to grow in Ash's. Can our beautifully unnoticed rivals make it through?! Will I ever stop sounding like a 4Kids narrator?! (I don't think so!)

Find out on the 21st! Yes, I'm updating again on the 21st, for it is my fifteenth birthday and I wrote a special chapter for the occasion!

Review please?! Tune in on the 21st please?!


	4. A Prick From a Rose

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME- /shuts up

Anyway, hooray for mushy filler chapter!

Ahh, so _Destiny Deoxys _occurred somewhere between _Cruisin' For A Losin' _and _Who, What, When, Where, Wynaut? _so I thought it would be fun to incorporate Drew into this, since it's been stated multiple times that LaRousse City is Drew's hometown and it only seems natural he'd return home after the events of the big Deoxys vs. Rayquaza brawl in _Destiny Deoxys_.

Of course, this also means that this chapter is entirely constructed from my own ideas, with no episode (or in this case, movie) scene prompting in the slightest. Ah, finally I have to start doing what other fan fiction writers do - come up with my own ideas! The horror D:

But in other news, since there is nothing for me to base this off and therefore no continuity I have to keep for this particular chapter, maybe we can finally get some hot Respect action?

_Word prompts: Flattery. Choices. Rainfall._

4: A Prick From a Rose

_-LaRousse City, July 20__th__, 2004-_

Ash was bored. Bored and restless and sick of feeling bored and restless.

While the former residents of LaRousse City were being transferred back into the city once more, the monorail congestion was horrific. According to Rafe Wyatt, a trainer from South City the group had befriended during their stay, the monorail lines wouldn't be clear for another two days at the earliest, leaving the others to wonder what else they could do.

Ash had considered revisiting the battle tower, except for the fact that the owner of the building had been trampled during evacuation procedures and was confined in the nearby hospital, having been diagnosed with three broken ribs and a fractured leg; for this reason, LaRousse City's Battle Tower would remain closed until the owner of the building had healed up fully, much to Ash's annoyance.

He'd already had an informal pokemon battle against Rafe. And one against Sid. And one against Rebecca.

He'd even challenged Brock, although their battle had been interrupted when Nurse Joy dropped by unannounced to hand Rafe back his blaziken's pokeball. Brock had been drawn to her instantly, and thus, the battle was over.

Long story cut extremely short, there was nothing left to do, since Tory Lund, the shy pale-haired kid the gang had befriended, was no match for Ash, having only just gotten over his phobia of pokemon. He'd been training his plusle and minun ever since Deoxys and Rayquaza had departed, but what with being new to the whole trainer thing, he hadn't advanced much.

On the third day in the pokemon centre, Ash finally cracked.

"I'm sick of this place!" he snapped, throwing up his hands and rising to his feet, frustrated. Pikachu looked up at him lazily, still half-asleep from its nap.

"Pika…?"

"It's so boring being stuck here," he groaned. "Anybody want to go get ice-cream or something?"

"Sure, I'll go with you," Rafe shrugged, entering the room. He shut his pokedex tightly. "I was only helping Audrey revise for her Hoenn-Dex Identification Test in our room. You remember doing those back in grade school, right?"

"Yeah…" Ash couldn't remember much about his days as a school kid, but the Kanto-Dex IDT was something that always stuck out; mainly because he got the highest score in the class after staying up all night watching an old Indigo League competition on home video belonging to his father and remembering all 150.

In actual fact, it was probably a prominent memory simply because it was one of the rare times in grade school he'd ever beaten Gary in something academic. Regardless, the two of them had still both passed the test, and ended up graduating grade school earlier than the rest of their peers, their pass earning them the right to begin their pokemon journey at ten, the youngest legal age.

"The problem with Audrey," Rafe sighed, "is that she's all about the Johto-Dex, but when it comes to the Hoenn-Dex she just goes blank. Fortunately I was always ace on the IDTs so I'm qualified to help her."

"Nobody's interested in how you aced grade school, Rafe," Rebecca Brewer piped up, packing her laptop away into its case and slinging it over her shoulder. "I'm pretty peckish too. Lets go to that café we used to visit after school, Rafe! We can show Ash all the specials…"

As the trio left and Rafe and Rebecca continued to discuss the choices on the menu, Ash glanced around, lost in thought. LaRousse City was so pretty. It was a shame he'd never visited sooner. Even if he was taken aback by its beauty, he still felt that Pallet Town was a better fit for somebody like him - easily excited, living a quaint life on the busy road.

The ice-cream, as it turned out, was also great. He'd ordered a razz berry parfait and was watching the streets bustling with life as the trio sat at one of the outdoor tables. His seat was pressed up against a rusty spiral staircase leading to a balcony on the first floor that looked as though it hadn't been used in years. He ran his fingers down the banister absentmindedly, wiping his hands on his shirt when specks of rust came off on them.

"It's a good thing that the owners were ready to come back to work straight away," Rebecca sighed. "I was going celebrate my victory at the Battle Tower here, but then what with everything that happened…"

"I hear you," Rafe agreed. "The guy that runs this place, Eric, recently introduced an ice-cream that has ground up liechi berry shavings. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get a hold of liechi berries? They're seriously rare. He only sells them on special occasions, though, so it's really difficult for us to get here in time to try them, since we have to catch the monorail line, and most of the local kids have already gotten there first." He sighed. "Sid managed to get his hands on one once. The three of us shared it with spoons and split the cone. It was spectacular."

"Sure seems like you guys like this place," Ash smiled. "This ice-cream is really good. It's better than anything I've ever tried before! Does the owner keep fresh miltank or something? This tastes even creamier than the ice-cream in Goldenrod!"

"I should think so, since this shop uses fresh piloswine-based milk as well as miltank-based for the ice-cream," a smug voice came from behind them.

Ash turned around and felt his heart in his mouth.

Green hair. Green eyes. A confident smirk. A perfect button nose.

Ash's heart began to race.

"Drew!"

Drew Blakeslee smiled, hands in pockets.

"Long time no see, Ash," he said. He nodded towards Rafe and Rebecca, who were gaping at him. "You guys, too. It's been a while."

"Drew! It's been ages! We didn't think you'd be back in LaRousse City until after the Hoenn Grand Festival," Rebecca managed.

Drew shrugged. "After all the commotion was over, my parents called to tell me what happened. I decided to come back and visit them, make sure they were alright." He glanced over at Ash. "I didn't realise you guys all knew each other."

"It was Ash here who helped save LaRousse City," Rafe said through gritted teeth. "Didn't anybody mention that?"

"No." Drew seemed generally surprised. "Funny. I knew you liked playing hero, but I didn't expect you'd actually be capable of solving a conflict of proportions as massive as this."

"That's some nerve," Rafe spat. "That's some nerve you have, Drew, saying such a thing to the person who saved your hometown! Don't you think you should give him a little more respect than that?!"

"Leave it, Rafe," Ash interrupted. To be honest he'd never thought of his various encounters with legendary pokemon something people needed to respect him for. In his eyes, whatever he did to save people's lives, they'd appreciate even if they didn't know it was him.

So long as they valued that their lives were precious, his job was done.

Or so he'd thought. Until Drew's comment stirred him.

"I just think maybe you should be grateful for all my hard work, is all," Ash shrugged, holding a hand to his heart. "It hurts a lot, Drew, that you would refuse me a shred of praise for my sacrifice."

"You're being disruptive to other customers," Drew deadpanned, although the trio sat in front of him knew for a fact that they were the only people sitting in the outdoor section of the ice-cream parlour. He turned to glance pointedly at Ash. "Anyway, move your seat out of the way. I need to get through."

"Up the staircase?" Ash wrinkled his nose. "Why?"

Drew's eyes narrowed. "Cause the staircase leads to my bedroom, obviously."

And then the penny dropped.

Ash glanced up in amazement at the sign on the front of the ice-cream parlour - reading _Blakeslee's Parlour_ - and felt like a complete idiot.

"…Oh."

"Drew? Is that you?" A man Ash recognised to be the owner poked his head through the pick-up window.

"Hey, Dad," Drew said with a wave, before shoving Ash out of the way lightly and heading up the spiral staircase.

As he unlocked the door, curiosity got the better of Ash and he followed Drew up, eager to see what kind of a room he had. From his experiences, the state of somebody's room said a lot about a person.

As he expected, the room was spotless, everything holding a place. He felt uncomfortably out of place as he watched Drew drop the bag down on the bed, creasing the sheets slightly.

Drew looked up and frowned. "What are you doing in here?"

Ash then realised how rude this looked. "Right! Sorry for intruding!" Then he began examining Drew's collection of _T.R.A.I.N.E.R.S _box sets. "I didn't know you were into comedy."

"I didn't know you were into trespassing," Drew countered lamely. "Anyway, you'd better follow me, since I'm going down to the shop part and I don't trust you alone in my room. You might break something." He stood up and shut the door leading out onto the small balcony connected to the staircase, locking it with a small key with a green roselia keychain.

"Hey, I happen to be very trustworthy!" Ash protested as he followed Drew out of the other door and into a hallway with several doors ascending from the corridor.

"I'm not giving you a grand tour or anything," Drew said loftily. "Those are doors, leading to rooms. That's it. Come on, I don't have all day."

Ash wasn't used to this LaRousse City Drew, who had childish key chains on his house keys and comedy show box sets in his room. He was much more comfortable with the Drew that was leading him downstairs, acting as haughty as ever. The Drew he'd known since the day they'd first met, Drew the pokemon coordinator.

Though, if they were still competing to find each other's unguarded sides, he was sure he could poke fun at this one later, when the two of them ran out of current things to say.

"Oh, Drew, is this your friend?" a woman with long hair tied back in a messy bun asked as she glanced up, replacing an empty tub of chocolate ice-cream with a fresh one.

"I guess you could say we're acquainted," he shrugged, aloof. "He's… a rival of mine."

"Oh, that's nice. But I don't think I've seen him in any of your contests before." The woman peered at Ash. "Hmm, weren't you at the battle tower a few days ago?"

"Yeah, I was!" he grinned. "My name's Ash Ketchum. It's nice to meet you!"

The woman's eyes widened. "You're Ash? My, oh my! I've heard a little about you from Drew and Solidad. How wonderful!"

"Who's Solidad?" Ash questioned as Drew's face reddened.

"Why have you been talking to Solidad?!" he managed. "When? Where?"

"Over the phone," she replied cheerfully. "Nothing too detailed, though. I just heard that you're one of Drew's rivals who battles gyms. Is that right, Ash?"

"Yeah, that's me," Ash confirmed, slightly bewildered. What was with Drew's reaction upon hearing the name 'Solidad', anyway?

"Uh, this is my mother, anyway," Drew coughed slightly. Of course, Ash could see it now; she held the same green eyes she did. Her hair was the same shade as his too. As she pressed a double scoop of mint berry choc chip into Drew's left hand, Ash noted that she had a thumb ring on, sporting a small gold rose.

"Nice to meet you," he said again, before being pulled away by Drew, who was muttering under his breath.

"So Drew, you talk about me to your mom?" Ash grinned slyly.

"Be quiet," Drew shot back, a little more defensively than he'd originally intended. Ash held up a hand in surrender, still chuckling.

He felt his wrist being held in Drew's grip and allowed himself to be swept up by that dizzy feeling he seemed to get whenever the younger boy was around.

"How come you didn't just come back down the staircase when you threw down your bag?" Rafe teased as the two emerged.

"If I say I'm coming back to visit my parents, it's cause I want to see both of them," Drew countered. "My mom's in the shop. It's only logical to go round that way if I can see her on the way back, right? It'd save me the extra hassle of making the extra journey inside, anyway."

"Do you two not get on or something?" Ash asked, watching the two quizzically. Rebecca stifled a laugh.

"You could say that. They just enjoy pushing one another's buttons. What with South City being so small, we went to elementary school in LaRousse City, so we were in the same class as Drew. Rafe and Drew were constantly rivalling against one another for top scores. Needless to say, they both got a perfect score on their Hoenn IDTs and graduated straight away. I've never seen a funnier sight than when the two were fighting over which starter pokemon to choose."

"Drew got to the treeko before I did, so I chose torchic," Rafe piped up. "In retrospect, I got the better end of the stick, since Drew's treeko refused to enter contests. He thought it was a sissy path to take."

"Reminds me of you," Drew threw towards Ash with a slightly amused look in his eye.

"So what happened? Did you trade it off with someone?" Ash asked. Drew nodded.

"Yeah, with an old friend of mine. Unfortunately, the egg they gave me in exchange hatched into a wynaut that also refused to enter contests, so it works in the shop. It milks the piloswine and miltank for my parents."

Ash glanced up at the shop again, mesmerised. "It's funny, though. Of all the places I imagined you to live in LaRousse City, a small ice-cream parlour never really came to mind. I always thought it would be in one of the classy apartments near the monorail line."

"When we were kids, we used to eat here all the time, didn't we?" Rebecca sighed. Drew chuckled.

"I suppose half of our earnings came from Sid's binge eating, right?"

"He only used to binge eat because you teased him for his lack of style when battling," Rafe reminded him. "He's over it now. He's currently wooing your girlfriend back at the pokemon centre."

Drew looked up from his ice-cream and Ash felt a familiar twinge of jealousy in his gut.

"May's here?"

"Hells to the yeah," Rafe nodded. "Sid's obsessed with her. He even serenaded her before our double battle against Ash and Tory."

"You battled against Ash?" Drew seemed mildly interested at that statement. "And? Who won?"

"I did, of course. He was battling alongside _Tory Lund_, remember. No matter how well he battled, he wouldn't have been able to win."

"But Tory's improving, right?" Ash interrupted with a frown. "He's doing his best, isn't he?"

"Well yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that he was hopeless at the battle tower," Rafe shrugged. "Ash would've been better off battling us solo."

As the group continued to talk amongst themselves, Ash felt an overwhelming sense of peace wash over him. Since what happened in Rubello Town, he thought this unexpected meeting with Drew would be awkward and scary. Instead he found himself slipping away, the nerves burying themselves far beneath the surface.

* * *

The sun was beginning to set when Rafe and Rebecca decided to head back to the pokemon centre.

"Want us to let the others know you're here?" Rebecca asked Drew as she slung her laptop bag over her shoulder. Drew shook his head.

"I want a day of peace, first. Maybe I'll catch you guys later."

"Gotcha. You coming, Ash?"

"Um… no," Ash said slowly. Then, noting the surprise on their faces, he quickly continued. "I mean, I'm coming back, obviously, but- …Look, I'll meet you back at the centre, okay?"

Casting suspicious glances at him the two retreated, waving to Ash and Drew as they left.

"What was all that about?" Drew smirked. "Can't bear to be apart from me?"

Ash shrugged. "Something like that." He glanced over to Drew as the younger boy looked away, feeling oddly unnerved by the Ash was watching him.

"…"

"…Drew…?"

"What is it?" Drew turned to face Ash, suspicious. "You're acting weird."

"I… I just want to ask something." Ash's heart was beginning to race. "In Rubello Town… why did you…"

Drew's eyes widened.

"Drew, what happened that night?" Ash pressed. "It was so weird. Like you were a completely different person. Did I do something wrong?"

For a while Drew stared at Ash, not quite knowing what to say.

"…No… Nothing like that." He flicked a strand of hair back. "What did you expect? I was a little fatigued from winning the contest. It was hard work and I needed my rest."

"Then what was with all the flower petals?"

A grin broke out on Drew's face and he shoved his hands into his pockets. "I wanted to make a good impression. I mean, how could I just walk away like that? It's important that every possible moment be flawless, and… using a petal dance attack as a cover for my exit felt like a smart thing to do, at the time."

"Huh." Ash blinked. "…Well, I guess that makes sense." He frowned. "Next time I won't be as forgiving, though! Watch out, Drew! You can't pull the same stunts twice!"

Drew smirked.

"I'll try to keep that in mind."

He flicked his hair back.

"I don't know about you, but I still need to train a bit more before we have another battle. I hate to further delay our battle, but perhaps the next time we meet up?"

Ash's face fell. "Are you sure? It's not formal or anything. Oh! But I forgot to ask May to teach me about contest battles…"

Drew chuckled lightly. "I wouldn't try to learn anything from May. Whatever happened to the Ash Ketchum who relied on his own way of doing things, anyway?"

Ash shrugged, suddenly sheepish. "…I don't know… normally I wouldn't care. But I don't want your opinion of my battling skills to be any different based on how much I know about contest battles, so I thought if I got May to just teach me the basics…"

"Don't bother. Why waste time asking May when you can learn from an expert right here?" Drew flicked back his hair. "Of course, you have to have a coordinator's natural-born talent to begin with, otherwise trying to become something you're not is meaningless, isn't it? However, I always thought gyms weren't challenging enough for you. Perhaps the next time May enters a contest, you should sign yourself up too."

The idea, in Ash's eyes, was ludicrous enough, without Drew actually _encouraging_ it.

"No way! I'm not cut out for battling contest style, Drew, you should know that by now."

"…Should I?"

Drew turned abruptly, heading back towards the shop. "Come on back to my room. It's getting chilly out here."

The sun was already beginning to set, casting a pinkish glow over the gleaming skyscrapers and spotless streets. Ash found himself mesmerised by it all, lingering back for a moment with longing in his eyes. When he pulled himself away and followed Drew, he tried not to think about how concerned the others would be by now.

"So I take it you didn't expect what you found when you decided to pay my family a visit," Drew said casually when the two were in the comfort of his room. Ash shrugged.

"Well, I expected your parents to be a lot more… refined?" Ash cringed. "I'm sorry, what I mean is…"

"No, no, it's fine," Drew smirked, closing his eyes as he sat down on his bed. "I get that a lot. Lord knows Solidad did her fair share of analysing when she found out."

Ash's lip curled. "…Who's Solidad?"

"A fellow coordinator," the younger boy said lightly. "We've been rivals for a while now. She and I spend a lot of our time comparing opinions on different coordinators we meet in our travels. She's from Kanto too."

"Maybe I'll meet her one day," Ash said, trying not to let the tweak of sudden frustration he felt show. Why was it that he got so irritated at things like this? It was only natural Drew would have other friends, right?

He remembered feeling like this once before, back in his younger days, when his friend Gary was constantly surrounded by girls.

_But that's only because they hardly ever left us alone. This is different._

Noticing the way Ash was grinding his teeth, Drew smiled.

"Something playing on your mind, Mr Ketchum?"

Ash's head snapped up. "Wh-What? No…!" He frowned. "It's just weird. You hardly ever let me pry into your personal life. I guess that's why I always thought you were from a prestigious background… but for some reason, today is really different from every other time, huh?" He glanced at Drew. "Why is that?"

The green-haired coordinator shrugged.

"Does there have to be a reason? I'm taking a break from being Drew the Coordinator to visit my folks. You're taking a break from being Ash the Trainer to hang out with Drew Blakeslee the Person. Keeping up an image for contests doesn't necessarily mean I become that person. The Drew that May knows is different to the Drew sitting here in front of you, I suppose. Make sense?"

Ash nodded dumbly, trying to connect all of the dots.

"Then what do you think I'm like behind the scenes?"

Drew tapped the side of his cheek. "Hmm… I don't really know. Since you're from Pallet Town and have a backwoods Kantonese dialect, I'm guessing you're a simple-minded citizen who lives in a small estate with your parents and their one-eyed poochyena from back when they were trainers. Perhaps a snot-nosed younger brother or sister, too? And you probably have a bunch of childhood friends, too, since from what I've heard Pallet Town has a pretty tight-knit community… right?"

"About half of that is accurate," laughed Ash. "I do live in a small estate. My dad's pretty deadbeat and left to 'carry on his pokemon journey' - aka, slipped away with some jailbait from Saffron City. My mom's still around, though. We don't have a poochyena, though - we have a mr. mime. And he has two eyes. I'm an only child as well, but I _do_ have Gary - we've been friends since we were kids. He was my first rival!" Ash clenched his fists. "We've been on good terms lately, ever since he gave up training to become a researcher. He's Professor Oak's grandson - have you heard of him?"

Drew felt a twinge of jealousy and coughed slightly to cover it up.

"Yeah, once or twice. Can't really remember what he looked like, though."

He reached over to the radio sitting on his bedside table and turned the toggle, searching for a good station. When he found a song he recognised, he slowly let his arms fall to his sides and closed his eyes, listening.

The music began to play and Ash's eyes widened.

"I know this song! Gary's mom used to have this song on a record!" Ignoring the fact that Drew didn't give a damn about what Gary's family's taste in music was like, Ash's face broke out into a warm smile. "Or at least, it once belonged to her, according to the professor. We found it in a box in the basement of the lab when we were kids… we used to dance to it all the time…"

"A lot of people say bad things about this song, you know," Drew sighed, shaking his head. "Because of the underlying theme of the lyrics. But in my opinion, music wasn't for words. They're for the sound." His eyes deepened as he became lost in his own thoughts.

"I hear you," agreed Ash, lying back on the bed in Drew's bedroom and staring up at the ceiling. "She lives in this house over there, has her world outside it," he began to sing.

"You're on the wrong key," Drew pointed out, lying beside him.

"Bite me," Ash retorted. "It's impossible to sing this song on key. Björk has a style of her own."

"So you remembered who's on vocals. I'm impressed. Most kids don't really care who sings what, so long as it's catchy."

As the two lay on Drew's bed, a thought suddenly occurred to Ash.

"Hey, Drew?"

"…What is it…?"

"Where do you get your roses from?"

Drew propped himself up on one elbow to quirk an eyebrow at Ash. "Where'd that come from?"

Ash shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I just always wondered. Do you get them from your roselia, or…?"

Drew chuckled. "On occasion. My mom likes gardening, so sometimes she sends me packets of seeds. Of course, Roselia can very easily grow roses for me to use, but sometimes it feels better to grow them myself. The roses I grow are fewer in number, though, so I only give them to people who deserve them." He caught Ash's eye. "Are you deserving of one of my roses?"

"I don't know," Ash shrugged, folding his arms. "I mean, you hand out roses to everybody, right? Am I deserving? After all, I see you give roses to May all the time. What's to say you won't give her your own grown roses?"

Drew grinned.

"Oho, what's this? Mr Ketchum, you're jealous of where May stands in my rose-giving priorities? I'm surprised. I'd have thought by now you'd trust me more. I'm much more tasteful towards who I present my roses to than you're giving me credit for right now, Ash."

Ash rolled over, face flushed. "I'm not jealous!" he retorted. "Please… what do I have to be jealous about, might I ask? It's none of my concern who you hand out roses to. You can give them to whoever you want. Who am I to tell you anything different?"

The younger boy's face broke out into a smirk. "I guess I'm the only one who decides just who I'm going to hand my roses out to." He withdrew something from his pillow and allowed Ash's face to be enveloped in rose petals, a chuckle playing on his lips. "Fortunately, I choose _you_."

"That's so cheesy," groaned Ash as he spat out a rose petal. He grabbed the rose and stared at it, crimson petals matching the hue of his cheeks. "Where'd you even get this from? You haven't been out of my sight all day."

"A magician never reveals his secrets," Drew replied with a tap of the nose. "Truthfully, I swiped it from my back garden earlier when you helped yourself to yet another one of my family's ice-creams. I'm glad you liked them." His grin grew wider. "Interesting how I, in your own words, 'haven't been out of your sight all day'. I suppose I'm quite the catch?"

"Piss off," grunted Ash, glaring at him. As he ran his fingers over the stem, he winced. "Ouch, frick. I pricked my finger."

A bead of blood formed on his fingertip and Drew grabbed his hand firmly, glancing at it.

"Since it's home-grown, no chemicals were sprayed on it, so you'll be fine," he said. "However, we should probably do something about the bleeding."

Before Ash had time to suggest they go downstairs to find a band aid, Drew leaned down, bringing Ash's finger to his lips gingerly.

"What are you doing?" Ash asked weakly, unsure of what to do. When Drew pulled away from Ash's hand, a small patch of blood was smeared on his lower lip. He ran his thumb over it, wiping it away.

"They say applying pressure prevents further bleeding," he said nonchalantly. As Ash's face began to turn purple, he laughed. "Okay, okay, I've had my fun. Time to get serious." In one swift motion he grabbed Ash's hand and pressed into his finger slightly, hands covering his handiwork. When he pulled away, a green band aid was wrapped gently around his fingertip. Upon closer inspection, dozens of tiny roselia were waving at him, buds extended.

The song had long stopped playing now. As the first few chords from a Broken Social Scene song began to play, Ash lowered his head.

"I'd better go," he bit out.

Drew smiled.

"Perhaps that'd be a good idea. Next time, we'll have a battle for sure." As Ash opened the door to leave, Drew added, "I guess asking May for tips wouldn't be such a bad idea after all. Though remember this is May we're talking about here."

"I-I'll keep that in mind," Ash managed, before shutting the door abruptly and charging down the spiral staircase as fast as his legs could carry him, mind racing.

It was only as he stopped running, bending down to catch his breath in front of the pokemon centre, that he realised it had began to rain. Raindrops clung to his skin, the fresh scent of rose petals lingering in the air. Upon closer inspection, he realised he didn't have the rose with him, and it made his heart wilt.

He must've left it on Drew's bed. Figured.

* * *

"Where have you been?" May demanded as he entered the room, soaked to the skin.

"Out," he replied, in no mood to deal with her rapid-fire questions. He sat down heavily on his bed, removing his socks and shoes.

"It's late, you know," she pressed on. "It's super late, and you didn't even call. We were _worried_ about you!"

"I was fine," Ash grunted, avoiding eye contact.

As he tugged off his hoodie, something tumbled out and he stared at it.

A slightly crumpled rose lay on his pillow, shedding petals one by one.

_Stupid Drew. He must've slipped it into my hood when I wasn't looking._

"A _rose_?!" May cried incredulously. "What, did you run into Drew or something?"

"Something like that," he muttered, bringing his lips up to rest gently on his roselia-patterned band aid. He began to shiver.

At that moment, Pikachu entered the room, uttered a relieved, "Pikapi!" and hopped onto his shoulder, nuzzling against his neck. Ash let out a shaky laugh he'd been containing since Drew's lips had first met his finger back in his bedroom.

"He's toying with me again," he laughed, shaking his head, as though it were the simplest deduction in the world. Ash rested his head in his hands, shoulders trembling. "He's playing with me again, just like he always does."

* * *

I think Rafey-boy was jealous, teehee. A bit of TowerShipping jealousy, I guess? Fun. Even if I'm a Respect fan girl at heart, you can't deny there was so much sexual tension going on between Ash and Rafe during Destiny Deoxys. It was a fucking goldmine of shipping.

Anyway, I don't know if you can tell, but _T.R.A.I.N.E.R.S _is supposed to be a parody of _F.R.I.E.N.D.S_. The Rare Candy Treatment did a similar parody and named it _F.I.E.N.D.S_, but it wouldn't make much sense to use a joke similar to that since I can't provide the fic with visuals of Chandler's face replaced with that of a chandelure. So, I picked the next best thing.

The song is Birthday by The Sugarcubes (first discovered when rooting through my dad's old records - he had such great taste in music)! Since my birthday is today, it seemed to fit. I can see the lyrics in just about every light I've seen written on the face of the internet, so I don't have much to say on it, except that Drew's views are my views: I don't listen to music for the words. I don't care if this song is about paedophilia, or if it's about a five-year-old girl hanging out with an old man, or whatever. It still holds so much meaning to me, and I love it.

If you're wondering "What's the big deal about Drew growing his own roses? Does it matter, if his roselia can just pop out roses whenever he needs them?" it's much more symbolic. For starters, effort is required to grow your own shit! Also, if he can grow as many roses as he wants with Roselia's help, they hold no value, right? Growing them himself basically shows he's passionate enough towards the people he gives his special roses to - hence why they represent how he feels towards certain people.

Eek, did Drew really make a poke-pun? What has this world come to? OMFG /shoots self

Anyway, sorry this is super long! Not sure when I'll update again, but hopefully there won't be a massive gap between updates, since this fic is really beginning to pick up the pace now. I'm kind of excited to get to later chapters now, since I have some Sinnoh-related plans as well. Fun.

Review? :)


	5. Bloom

Hi~! /rolls in

Uwahh, so much feedback since I updated! Thank you to ben4kevin, Allie cat, Diamonti, 2darkpokemon, Namezol and XxShuukaraxX for reviewing!

I love you guys so much. I didn't expect this fic to gain much popularity since Respect is such an underrated ship. Lets make it to the top guys! Lets make this ship recognised! /inspirational preach

In my mind this episode was a lot of hidden character development just waiting to happen, so while it might not be the most gripping chapter yet, I think a lot of things are about to be unveiled.I guess we'll just have to find out~! (By the way, this chapter takes place during the events of _Who, What, Where, When, Wynaut?_)I also named the island they docked in during the events of _Showdown at Linoone _because it didn't have a name in the original episode and they haven't moved since then. It would've been strange for me if the island didn't have some sort of name, since it wasn't abandoned or anything. I'm picky like that.

Also, casually putting time markers between parts when they're needed because I like to be precise and this episode spanned over like the early hours of the morning and shit omg.

_Prompts: Gravitate. Realisation. Fluttering._

5: Bloom

_-Deep Blue Island, February 3__rd__, 2005-_

With a grunt, Ash clenched his fists and released a roar that rocked his frame and made his head rush. The intensity building up inside of him was enough to send the rattling howl for miles, he was certain of it.

"Ash, I've never seen you so pumped," Brock called to him over the sound of the waves crashing around them.

The group were on the rocks that were stapled spontaneously in between sand banks beneath the surface of the ocean, Ash and Pikachu standing on one rock suspended in the sea whilst May, Brock and Max sat on one a little closer to the shore.

"That's right," Ash said, turning to face them with a confident grin. "There's only three months until the Hoenn League championships and I've gotta be ready!"

With an excited cry, Pikachu hopped onto Ash's shoulder. Max turned to May.

"Don't forget your pokemon contest in Pacifidlog Town."

"Yeah, and if I get a win there I'll have all five of my contest ribbons!" May clasped her hands together in anticipation. "Just think! I could end up entering the grand festival!"

Ash balled up his hand into a fist and stared back out at the water again. "Pikachu, you ready to go?"

Pikachu uttered a confident sound, equally as determined to train.

At that moment, something caught Ash's eye.

Actually, more like some_one_.

"Hold on… is that _Drew_?"

His heart race began to quicken. It'd been difficult to forget that day in LaRousse City, but just as he'd finally pushed it out of his mind…

Drew stood on a ledge further away from them, on a higher rock where the wind was a lot less sympathetic to those who dwelled there. His head was unusually windswept, his expression focused. His cheeks were still looking slightly bitten by the heavy gusts being thrown towards him.

"Drew?" May squeaked, her confidence suddenly beginning to shrink. Max peered a little closer.

"Yeah, what's he doing?"

Ash turned his focus back to Drew, intrigued. In the distance a large wave was forming, high enough to completely submerge the rock. Despite this, Drew appeared composed. His masquerain fluttered beside him, also awaiting the crashing wave.

Brock jumped to his feet, face filled with a sense of urgency.

"Hey! Look out!"

As the wave broke, Drew's eyes brightened and his back arched.

"Go, Masquerain, silver wind!"

With an excited cry, the pokemon began to beat its wings frantically, sending out a gust of wind with a silver edge that destroyed the wave in its path. Ash stared, blood pounding in his ears, the attack completely taking his breath away. Fine spray fell back into the ocean, sparkling as the light hit each drop.

"Woah, check out that power!"

Pikachu uttered a sound with similar astonishment.

"That was really amazing," Max agreed, to which May added, "Yeah, I'm almost jealous…"

Ash grinned and hopped from his rock onto some of the smaller ones below, heading back towards the shore. The others noticed his sudden departure and rose to their feet, following suit.

As Drew headed back towards the shore, he was surprised to see Ash racing towards him, waving. A sudden thought ran through his head and he suppressed the blood rushing to his face as the group approached him.

_So long as he doesn't bring up what happened in LaRousse City I'll be fine._

"Drew! Hey!"

Drew stopped as Ash stood before him, face breaking out into a smile. While the others were around, at least, he'd pretend like LaRousse City never even happened. Perhaps that was for the best, anyway.

"Oh… it's you guys…"

"We saw the whole thing," Ash gabbled quickly, to cover up any insecurity evident on his face as his friends reached the two boys. "That technique was _awesome_!"

"Pikapika!" Pikachu chimed in happily, raising a paw. Drew smirked, confidence flooding back as he realised they could avoid the topic of LaRousse City and pokemon-print band aids altogether.

"That's just one of the many awesome attacks I'll be using over at the Grand Festival."

"That's where you and I will face off!" May butted in, clenching her fists in a fighting stance. Drew made an amused sound and closed his eyes.

"So that means you've won all five of your contest ribbons, May?"

She let out a warm giggle and pulled out her ribbon case, clicking open the lid for her rival to see.

"Almost!" May's face split into a radiant smile. "Just one more and I'll be able to enter the Grand Festival, see?"

Drew's smug expression strengthened.

"Isn't that nice? Look." He pulled out his own ribbon case and it clicked open, revealing five glossy contest ribbons. The group failed to hide their amazement.

"He's got all five," was what slipped past Ash's lips as he stared in awe. Drew was certainly more than just a big talker, he'd give his closet rival that. Drew's smile deepened.

"The Grand Festival is in eight weeks. There's only one more contest before that, May."

"Only one more?!"

"You know what that means…" May's face filled with dismay.

"Yes. It means you win the Pacifidlog contest… or it's over. End of story. Finito!"

May quickly put away her ribbon case, cheeks flushed as she giggled sheepishly.

"Right, I knew that!"

Drew also lowered his, eyes still closed. "Still as happy-go-lucky and totally clueless as ever…"

May scowled. "Yeah, well how about a practise battle right here and now, mister know-it-all?"

He opened his eyes and smiled pleasantly at her, voice still holding slight scorn. "Well, I suppose Masquerain and I _could _use a little warm up…"

May's frown grew, if possible, even more savage.

"It'll be more than just a warm up!"

"Hey, hey, break it up, you two," Ash said quickly, putting a hand on May's shoulder and steering her back a few steps to give Drew some room. "Fighting like this won't solve a damn thing, you know? Why not just get on with your contest-style match? It'll be interesting seeing what kind of tactics the two of you will be using, anyway."

"Huh?" May furrowed her brow, confused. "Since when did you pay attention to things like that in contest battles, Ash? I never thought you really had an interest in them…"

Ash shrugged, knowing he couldn't really tell them that he was actually trying to learn how to battle contest style so he could impress his rival.

"My tactics change every time I battle," Drew inputted, already knowing what Ash was getting at. "But don't worry. I'm sure you can pick up a few tips from watching my battles, since I also learned from plenty of experiences."

"Stop making this all about you!" snapped May. "Come on, are you ready?"

"I want to judge!" Ash volunteered, putting his hand up.

"Sure, sure, just let us begin already!" May cried, frustrated, before running back a little so there was a distance put between her and Drew. With an eye roll and Ash calling rudely, "Yeah, okay, I got it, stop rushing me!" he raised both arms above his head.

"Now, begin!"

As his rival and his best friend battled one another, his eyes softened a little.

_If we could all get along like this, all of the time… if Drew could travel with us… if I could just… tell them…_

* * *

_-Mirage Island, February 3__rd__, 2005-_

_-Time: Approximately 4:30 PM-_

_How had this happened?_

"Everybody okay?" Ash groaned, brushing himself off. Somehow the group had been carried off into the middle of nowhere, surrounded by sand and trees, and far from any signs of other trainers. Long story short, they definitely weren't on Deep Blue Island anymore.

"Yeah, I think so…"

"But I don't see May or Drew anywhere!" Max's face filled with panic as he glanced around nervously, clutching the straps on his backpack until his knuckles flooded with white.

"The blast must've carried them off somewhere else," Ash said absentmindedly, glancing towards the patches of sky in between the trees.

"I'm sure they're on the same island, though," Brock added, brow furrowed.

"Well lets go and look, guys! Come on!"

The group began to trek along an obscure footpath that had been messily trimmed what looked like years ago, as the bushes and shrubs had began to grow back, causing Max to complain about his knees getting scratched at by twigs.

Brock pulled out his compass but to his dismay, the hands were spinning out of control.

"This is just great. This compass is completely worthless," Brock grunted as Ash's swellow circled above them. Ash turned his face up towards the sky to address his pokemon.

"Swellow, did you find May and Drew?"

Swellow made a disgruntled noise.

"It's hard to see anything in a forest this thick," Brock offered as Ash's teeth began to grind.

Max hung his head.

"I sure hope that May is alright…"

Ash turned to him. "Don't worry, we're going to find her and they'll be just fine," he assured Max quickly, realising now wasn't the time to get so self-absorbed. "I'm sure Drew's fine too," he added as an afterthought.

Brock quirked an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Pikapika," Pikachu chimed in, patting one paw against Max's knee comfortingly.

"In this situation, I think the best thing to do is find a river and then head down its shore."

Max clenched his fist, face suddenly brighter. "Yeah, cause they might decide to do the same thing!"

"Okay!" Ash and Brock called out their water type pokemon in order to seek out the nearest river or stream they could find.

As Mudkip and Corphish began leading the way, Max hot on their heels and determined to find May, Ash and Brock hung back as Pikachu scurried on a few paces ahead.

"How come you wanted to judge the contest battle before, Ash?" Brock asked casually as the two walked side by side, facing forward. Ash shrugged.

"I thought it was about time I started acting more my age and stopped depending on you. Since you always act as a judge in battles, I figured that'd be a good place to start. I don't know… I guess it's always felt like that's been a rite of passage of sorts."

"You were also saying about being interested in contest battles?"Ash cringed.

"…Yeah? I guess…"

Brock peered at him. "So you're interested in becoming a coordinator, Ash?"

"No! Nothing like that!" He shook his head quickly, face red. "No way! I'll always be aiming to be a pokemon master! It's just… watching the two of them competing in contests has taught me a lot about strategy. I like the idea of how they adapt to the situation in order to attack and defend. I figure if I keep watching them battle like that, it might help me in the future."

Brock nodded, pursing his lips slightly in thought.

"I guess that makes sense. I gotta say, I was a bit lost there. I suppose I've just never imagined you being anything other than a trainer aiming for the league… it's been your dream since we first met, after all."

Ash nodded.

"I know. I'd only ever really paid attention to gym battles my whole life, so when contests emerged all of a sudden I was surprised by how inspiring the battle style was." His smile widened. "But that doesn't mean I'll ever give up on my original goal. I'm not as fickle as you think!"

As the two began to laugh, Max spun round to scowl at them.

"Stay on task, guys, and stop joking around! May's still missing and I have to find her!"

Brock held up his hands in surrender with a slight smile.

"Sure thing, Max."

* * *

_-Mirage Island, 3__rd__ of February, 2005-_

_-Time: 7:49 PM-_

Things weren't going too great on Drew's end, either.

Although he had gotten the chance to try liechi berries and the cave that the group of wynaut had taken him and May too was warm and dry, he couldn't help but be a pessimist as he took in his surroundings. Sure, things were fine now, but it was only a matter of time before he needed to return back to the mainland to prepare for the Grand Festival in Slateport City.

"Aren't you worried?" he asked aloud, causing May to stop watching the wynaut dance in front of them and turn to face him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," he continued, "if you don't meet up with your little friends soon, it's not going to be easy getting to Pacifidlog in time for the final contest. And if you don't get there in time…"

"It's goodbye to the Grand Festival," May finished in a quiet voice. She dipped her head forward. "I know that. Of course I'm worried. Not just for me, but for Max, too, since it's my job to look out for him…" She looked up at him with a half smile. "But I trust them. I trust that they'll find us. And hey, we're already here, right? This cave is warm and dry and has food. The wynaut are wonderful for allowing us to rest here until the others find us. For now, we should enjoy it, right?"

"I guess…"

He frowned and counted the cracks around his feet.

"Hey, Drew?"

He glanced over at May, who was watching him intently, blue eyes brimming with curiosity.

"What is it?" he asked, closing his eyes.

"…Um, I don't really know how… how to say this…" She fumbled with her hands nervously, before blurting out, "Why were you with Ash in LaRousse City back in July?!"

Drew looked up, eyes wide.

_He told her?_

"What are you talking about?" he asked, recovering from any signs of surprise he may have shown. "Nothing happened. I went home to see my folks because they were panicked about the whole thing with rayquaza. You're telling me you weren't scared? I mean, you were there, after all."

"I know it was bad," she retorted, a little frustrated now, "but visiting your parents wasn't the only thing you did, right?"

He regarded her coolly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do!" she shouted, fists clenched. The wynauts stopped dancing, turning to watch the outburst. "Yes you do, Drew, because I was there when Ash came back from wherever the two of you went, and he was acting weird! I know you were there!"

Her face was beginning to redden.

"I get that you and Ash are older than me, and independent, and I have no right to try and stop you from hanging out. But _why_…? Yeah, I was scared when the rayquaza attacked, and yeah, if I were in your shoes I would've come home to check up on my family, except when _I_ was in LaRousse City, _I_ didn't disappear and hang out with my best friend's _rival_ for the day…!"

A hand flew to her mouth and May suddenly clammed up, shame ripping through her chest.

"…Oh, Drew… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound…"

"Bitter?" he inputted helpfully, also pretty startled by her outburst. She shook her head.

"I didn't mean to sound so _controlling_. I swear, I don't… normally I wouldn't care what you guys did…" She bit her lip, shame-faced. "It's just, when Ash got back he was acting so weird, and… he was kind of upset. He sat there for ages with his head in his hands." She turned to face him fiercely, knowing now that she'd gone too far to take back what she'd said. So instead, she pressed for more answers.

"What exactly did you say to him, Drew?" She shivered. "I didn't like the way he was acting at all. And you gave him a _rose_…"

"We talked about his battling strategy, okay?" Drew turned to shoot her a look. "We didn't exactly meet up, he was already at my parents shop when I arrived. So we talked a little, about battle pointers and things like that. It's easier for him to get a word in when you aren't constantly heckling me, anyway."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

As the two began to argue between themselves once more, Drew couldn't help but feel slightly relieved that the conversation had been turned away from LaRousse City during their slights towards one another.

During this time the wynaut had began to dance again, excited and happy to see the two were no longer seriously upset.

With a smile May turned her attention to the wynaut and swung her legs a little.

"Those wynaut sure know how to have a good time."

"Yeah…"

One of the leading wynaut approached them, chirping happily.

"I bet you're asking us to join you, right?"

"Wy!"

May jumped to her feet, grabbing pokeballs from her bag. "Awesome!"

As she called out her pokemon, Drew watched with a slightly amused glint in his eye.

"We've all been invited to a little party with the wynaut," she explained to her team, who ran off excitedly towards the group of dancing pokemon. May herself followed suit, giggling.

The wynaut turned to Drew.

"Oh, uh, no thanks," Drew said, waving his hand dismissively. "I think I'll take a pass this time."

As he watched May and her pokemon having fun, his mind wandered back to the things she was saying when she'd hurled her feelings at him earlier.

_Ash was upset?_

That stung a little. To him, that sunny day back in LaRousse City had been a good one, full of his memories. Getting the chance to see his old friends from school had been great, but seeing Ash as well had been the icing on the cake. It was his chance where he could be himself for a day, instead of having to hide behind the wall he put up in the presence of people who knew him as Drew the Coordinator.

For him, it had been a real kick start to the final part of his training cycle - the build-up to the Grand Festival.

Seeing the face of his closet rival and being able to so freely spend time with him had been, in his eyes, a perfectly-made moment.

So what had made Ash so upset?

_I'll ask him about it later. When we can finally get a moment alone._

* * *

_-Deep Blue Island, February 4__th__, 2005-_

_-Time: Approximately 6:24 AM-_

"Oh, man, I'm so tired," May complained as the group finally arrived back on Deep Blue Island. "The sunrise was only an hour ago, which means… we hardly slept at all, huh?"

"I'm not very familiar around this island," Roderick admitted, "but I'm sure you all know your way. I'd best be getting back to the wynaut…"

"Right. Thank you so much for the ride back to shore, Roderick." The group bowed in thanks, May still clutching the basket of liechi berries tightly in her hands. Pikachu hopped onto Max's head with a happy cry, waving his paw.

As the boat sped off, Brock turned to the others. "Where should we go next?"

Max opened his mouth to suggest something, only to hear a loud growl from Ash. He held onto his stomach with a sheepish grin.

"Breakfast?" he suggested with a nervous laugh. May nodded, face brightening.

"I saw an awesome café when we first entered town," she said quickly, "so maybe we should eat there."

"Sounds like a plan. Which way, again?" The group began heading up to the footpath, but Drew hung behind, a little unsure of where to put himself. Ash turned around.

"Drew? Aren't you joining us?"

Drew shrugged.

"It's okay. I think I'll go somewhere else…"

Ash nodded.

"Okay. Then I'll come with you."

"No, that's okay." He caught Ash's eye. "After all, your friends will be wondering where you are."

"Ash? Drew?" From the corner of his eye Ash could spot May heading towards them, breathless. "Guys? How come you're not…"

She stopped as Drew began to chuckle.

"Honestly… what are you laughing at? I just came to-"

"It's not really… how should I put it? It's not really the appropriate thing to do, to spend time with your rival as a friend." He stared into her eyes. "That's weak. I can't come with you guys." Drew ducked his head and began to walk, offering a slight wave without looking back. "See you at the Grand Festival. That is, assuming you make it past the Pacifidlog contest."

"Oh, what's with that attitude?!" snapped May, tightening the grip on her basket of liechi berries. "You're so full of yourself, Drew! Well, fine! I'll see you at the Grand Festival and beat the pants off of you, mister! Come on, Ash, lets get out of he-"

She stopped as he clapped his hands together apologetically.

"I'm sorry, May… I'm going with him for a while…"

Her jaw dropped.

"Wh- Why?!"

Ash shrugged sheepishly. "Nobody likes to be lonely. Drew doesn't travel with anyone else, so the least we could do is make him feel welcomed when he's around. If he's not okay with eating with you, because you're his rival… maybe I should give it a shot…"

She studied him silently for a few moments, seeing the conflict on his face; even if she was mad that he wanted to go with Drew in the first place, she could see how badly he wanted things to not be made difficult between the two of them because of it.

She sighed.

"If this means you guys will talk things out about LaRousse City… then fine. But! I won't cover for you next time!" She eyed him fiercely, but he could still see May beneath that disappointment, and relief flooded his body.

"Thanks, May. Cover for me?"

"I'll think of something," she huffed. "Try and play along convincingly when you get back."

His face split into a grin and he nodded before running off after Drew, turning to wave to her as he ran. "Thank you, May! I'll see you later!"

Drew was already at the end of the beach when Ash finally caught up with him.

"Why didn't you wait?"

"You looked like you were going with the rest of them." Drew's tone was slightly stiff. Ash frowned.

"I told May I was hanging out with you for a while, so I'm hoping that's what we're planning to do."

"And what, are you going to report back to her as soon as you get back? And then get all emotional when she presses you for details?" Drew spun around, eyes flashing with anger. Ash flinched, taking a step back.

_Where did this come from?_

"Drew, what are you talking about?" he croaked. "I never…"

"Don't even say that! She knows, Ash! She knows all about what happened in LaRousse City, because you told her!"

_She knows…?_

"Hey, I never told her anything," Ash shot back defensively, fists clenching. "If I was going to just tell the others everything as soon as I got back, do you think I'd still be hiding the roses? Do you think I'd still be leaving behind Pikachu, my pal, to spend time with you? Don't you think that's a little too much hassle if I just wanted to gossip about you like a lowlife… lowlife girl?!" His voice had gotten louder with his outburst. "Do you really think I'd risk our rivalry for something like that?!"

Drew stopped to stare at him. The older boy was red in the face, his cheeks the same flaming colour of his hat, and his breath was hitching as he tried to calm down.

_Is our rivalry really that important to you?_

"You didn't hide it, though," Drew said slowly. "May told me she found the rose after you came back. She said that you were upset, too." He frowned. "So why? Why were you upset?" he demanded. "I thought we were having a good time."

"The only reason she found it was because you put it in my hood," snapped Ash. "_I_ didn't put it there! What makes you think I'd sabotage our rivalry by being that careless?" His lips quivered. "And we _were_ having a good time! That was the problem! You were toying with me, like you always do, doing things like being so different from how you normally act, and then you played my favourite song and everything was fine! Then you went and… you went and kissed my finger-"

His knuckles felt like they were about to burst out of his skin. "You acted like everything was normal!" He felt ready to scream. "I was confused and you acted like nothing was wrong! That's why I was upset!"

Ash's face was glowing red by this time, heat literally radiating from his cheeks as he stood there, royally pissed. His shoulders were shaking a little.

To Drew, he was beautiful.

"Why…? Why didn't that affect you at all…?" Ash fumbled with his hands, panting, unsure of how to compose himself. His eyes began to sting so he blinked furiously against the strong wind beating against his cheeks. "Why am I the only one who got bothered by it…?!"

"Ash…"

Drew watched him, expression unreadable. He took a few steps forward, shaking his head.

"I can't believe this…"

He stopped mere centimetres away from Ash, turning up his face slightly to look into the older boy's eyes. They were a slightly singed brown colour, like autumn leaves. How had he never noticed how flawless they were?

"I didn't realise how dense you were."

"What do you mean?" muttered Ash sulkily, frustrated that so many people had said that about him and he'd never realised what they meant. Usually it tended to be girls, like Misty or May. They liked to drop comments about that, usually when other girls were around, and Brock would always get super engaged in it as well… so did that mean it was like a growing up thing?

Ash wasn't like that. Girls had this habit of doing silly things around him, like flashing him weird smiles or batting their eyes or acting dumb. He'd never really understood it.

Maybe that was what Drew meant. But then again, Drew had never done any of those things, either.

_I still don't understand…_

"I mean, you're totally hopeless when it comes to the really obvious things." Drew chuckled. "I wasn't sure what it meant when you weren't making passes back at me, but after what you just said, I understand it completely… you just never even noticed."

"Stop talking like I'm not here," snapped Ash. "If you have something to say, dammit, say it!"

Drew shrugged.

"I've been flirting with you and you didn't even realise it was flirting. That's about the gist of it, right?"

Ash froze.

"…Hold on… what?"

Fighting back the warmth rising in his face, Drew struggled to meet Ash's gaze but forced himself to anyway, mouth twisting into a line.

"I don't know how long it's taken you to know deep down, but… I think I've known for a while now." He ducked his head. "It's you, Ash. I don't know where I'm going, but you're always waiting at the end of the road."

Ash's mouth flapped uselessly as he tried to find the right words to say.

"D-Drew, I… I mean…"

"Ash, I like you." His tone was flat, tired. "I like you. More than just as a rival, or an acquaintance, or that guy I keep running into."

"Drew, you're not serious…"Ash shook his head, wide-eyed. He took a step back. "I- I mean- we're both guys! That's not going to work!"

Drew's eyes narrowed. "And why is that?"

"Because it's weird," spluttered Ash. "Since when do guys… do that sort of thing?! I never have! I mean… you don't really mean it…" He hung his head. "You're playing with me again. Isn't that right, Drew? Just like the roses, just like the kiss on my finger, and just like everything else."

Drew clamped his lips tightly together and shook his head, expression darkening.

"You really don't get it, Ash. I guess I should've expected as such." He shrugged, expression unreadable. "Well, I guess that's fine. I wasn't expecting a straight answer today. I don't _want _a straight answer today, not right now."

Drew, without a word, shoved his hands in his pockets and began to walk away. This time, there was no rose left behind, no mysterious note shoved into Ash's hands.

"Hey, Drew? Where are you going?"

"Somewhere else," he shouted back, tone aggressive again. "You really don't understand a thing, do you? I'm not stringing you along and I never have!"

His words were snatched away by the wind and incoming drizzle, leaving Ash stood alone, with a lost appetite and nothing left to say.

* * *

When he eventually got back to the pokemon centre, the first thing Ash did was head to Brock's room, ignoring the sounds of Pikachu and his other pokemon playing with May and Max.

As much as he needed his friends, this was something that he needed to talk to somebody about, man to man.

Brock glanced up from where he was buried in the thick pages of his Hoenn pokemon breeder manual to see Ash standing in the doorway, hair windswept and beaded with raindrops, face ashen. His hat hung loosely entwined in his fingers, sodden.

"Ash? Where have you been?"

"I don't know," he managed, before burying his head in his hands and slumping in a heap against the door. His body shook as his breath came out in a hushed, ragged mess.

Brock frowned. "Ash, are you alright?"

"It's Drew…" Ash raised his head to stare at Brock, face now pink, eyes wide with uncertainty. "Brock, Drew said that he liked me, and I- …I didn't believe him…" His voice sounded higher than normal. "He said that he liked me and I thought he was kidding… how could I laugh it off like that?"

Brock stared.

"Huh?! Ash, you and Drew…?" He furrowed his brow. "Ash, I don't understand. Are you sure Drew even… meant what he said… in that way?" It was difficult for him just to wrap his head around the idea that Drew would say such a thing, although it wasn't surprising that Ash had misinterpreted it; after all, ever since he had first met Ash, his friend had always been pretty dense about the signs that he, Big-cock Brock, had always considered himself well educated in.

As he noticed Ash shivering, he pulled him to his feet. "First things first, your hair is damp. You should dry off."

Without a word, Ash allowed himself to be guided over to Brock's bed, where he perched on the end, still clammy and shaky. He let out a quivering breath and clasped his hands, heart still racing. As Brock began to towel-dry Ash's hair, he spoke.

"Now you've calmed down, Ash, why don't you explain from the beginning?"

Ash shook his head.

"I can't do that. It's not fair to Drew…"

"I don't understand. I thought you guys were… sort of on civil terms, yeah, but I had no idea you guys… I mean, when have you even had the time to talk? We've hardly been separated, right?"

Ash's lip quivered.

"There are times when I leave you behind or I can't find you. Sometimes, there are times, times when I meet with Drew, and… it's in those times that we became rivals. I can't say anything more." His voice shook. "When you went out for breakfast, we talked about some things that happened in LaRousse City. That was when he told me that he…"

Ash fell silent, gripping the bed sheets.

"Ash, are you sure he even meant what he said in that way?" Brock asked gently, appealing to Ash's practical side. "With all due respect, you can sometimes, you know… take things the wrong way. You know, misinterpret things. Maybe what you thought you heard wasn't exactly what Drew actually said. Do you know what I mean?"

"I guess…" Ash shivered. "But that's not it, Brock. He used the F word. You know… _flirt_." He uttered it in a hushed voice, as though it were something dirty.

Brock chuckled, causing Ash to glare at him.

"What's so funny?!"

"You," he chuckled. "Right, right, sorry. I won't laugh. I'm just… surprised. I didn't think you of all people would get so worked up about things like flirting. I mean, you see me do it all the time."

"Yeah, but you don't flirt with _me_," Ash responded, frowning. "When I realised what it was we'd been doing…"

_It's left me so confused._

He sighed and closed his eyes.

"I think I'm dry now, Brock…"

"Right, sorry." He removed the towel from Ash's head and stood up. "Well, it'll be a few weeks before you see Drew again, Ash. Whatever conclusion you come to by then, you can talk it out when you see him at the Grand Festival, right?"

"_If_," Ash said without thinking. Then he shook his head. "No, I didn't mean it like that! Argh, you know I didn't mean it like that…"

"Ash Ketchum!" A voice rang out from outside the door, moments later turning out to be May as she slammed open the door. "What was that about 'if'?! Let me tell you, I will totally win that contest! I'm hurt that you don't have more faith in me than that!"

"Sorry," he grinned weakly as she began hitting his shoulder with her bag. "I didn't mean it like that, I swear! I _do_ believe in you! I was just being pessimistic-"

"I don't wanna hear excuses!"

* * *

So this took me almost a month to write holy shit. I hate how long it's taken me to reach this point, so sorry guys, but at the same time I feel like the story's moving too quickly and I can't keep up with it /cries

I hope this isn't a disappointing turnout to you guys. Ash isn't phobing, I promise, he's just totally new to the idea of dating in general (yet alone with another guy, something he's yet to encounter in his journey) and the concept of Drew liking him and vice versa scares him a lot (even if he's too proud to really admit it, we can totally tell, right?).

I feel like this focused a lot more on the other characters than our two beautiful boyfriends-to-be, but I personally think that character development was needed. There may be a smidge of contest hints ahead, just as a warning, but it only takes two seconds to look at the pairing listed in the summary, so don't fret. Here's hoping May doesn't stress us out too much.

Anyway, oh my god it's finally here I'm so sorry again if this chapter is a little scatty compared to the previous ones. It was difficult imagining Drew confessing to anybody but Ash sure as hell wasn't going to do it first, so here we are. I can't believe I wrote so much character development just to try and avoid doing that. I can be so cowardly sometimes I can't even-

BUT HERE IT IS AT LAST. FEELINGS, OUT IN THE OPEN. NEXT STOP: THE GRAND FESTIVAL~! IS EVERYBODY EXCITED? I SURE AS HELL AM.

SEE YOU THEN!


End file.
